The so-called "FIFTY FIFTY crisis" is now reaching a peak, escalating into a mudslinging match.

The legal dispute and public war of words have been ongoing for over a month between the group FIFTY FIFTY, their agency ATTRAKT, and the outsourcing production company The Givers.

On July 17, The Givers, represented by An Sung-il, faced a new claim that they had forged the signatures of the three original Swedish songwriters of FIFTY FIFTY's Billboard charting hit, 'Cupid'. It was suggested that An had bought the copyrights from the original songwriters without ATTRAKT's knowledge and signed an agreement last February to acquire the songwriters' shares. Furthermore, it was alleged that An committed illegal activities by forging the signatures of the songwriters to submit a share change confirmation document.

In response, The Givers countered on the 18th, "The original song 'Cupid' was bought for a third-party artist unrelated to ATTRAKT or FIFTY FIFTY, thus the premise that the copyright was secretly acquired is distorted."

Regarding the suspicion of forging the Swedish songwriter's signatures to change the shares, they added, "Since all copyrights of the original song's overseas writers were transferred to TheGivers, all rights and related procedures for the original song of Cupid have been comprehensively approved or delegated to TheGivers. Everything that TheGivers acts on behalf of for the Korea Copyright Association's documents and formal procedures is a legal process based on contracts." They further stated that they will reveal concrete supporting materials "through future investigations or court proceedings."

Moreover, on July 17th, they denied ATTRAKT's claim that the filming of the music video for the cancelled Hollywood movie 'Barbie' was unilaterally carried out and cancelled by An. They said, "Everything was approved and instructed by the former CEO. He made statements like 'We must find the instigator of this incident and hold them responsible' and 'There will be no compromise', and abruptly halted the shooting of the 'Barbie Dreams' music video."

The conflict, known as the 'FIFTY FIFTY crisis', began when ATTRAKT claimed on the 23rd of last month that there were external forces trying to seize the team. ATTRAKT singled out TheGivers as the 'external force' on the 27th of the same month, submitting a complaint against An and three others, and the controversy escalated when a call recording was released on the 3rd of this month, which contained a conversation that An was trying to carry out a buyout of FIFTY FIFTY at Warner Music Korea without agreement from ATTRAKT.

The Givers denies all related suspicions, but with conflicting claims from both sides, unfavorable press coverage of TheGivers continues to be released. Also, the FIFTY FIFTY members have applied for a provisional injunction to suspend the effectiveness of their exclusive contracts with ATTRAKT, further deepening the conflict.

As public fatigue is growing with each day of the two sides' battles, several associations in the music industry are taking steps to resolve the issue, each expressing their positions.

The Korea Entertainment Management Association officially stated on the 18th, "The former CEO is a renowned planner in the industry, and FIFTY FIFTY is a model case in the industry. However, it is causing repercussions due to the intervention of impure external forces," siding with ATTRAKT and repeatedly urging for "an amicable solution between ATTRAKT and the FIFTY FIFTY members so that they can return quickly and carry out normal entertainment activities."

Moreover, they clarified, "If an amicable resolution is not achieved and the illogical arguments of unwarranted external forces cause social repercussions, our association will strongly respond to these turbulent forces," explicitly showing their stance against TheGivers by referring to them as 'turbulent forces.'

The Korea Music Copyright Association also stated, "On the 14th, ATTRAKT submitted a complaint to the police, and based on that, they requested us to hold the copyright fee payment for 'Cupid'."

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