The Context Behind K-Pop’s Biggest Scandal [MIDiA]

What K-pop’s biggest scandal has to do with western “360 deals” and the wholesale export of K-pop’s working marketing methodologies to global music markets.

NewJeans never die: What the year-long scandal means for K-pop’s global expansion

By Olivia Jones of MIDiA Research Blog

The biggest scandal in modern K-pop turned one year old last Friday — and may have officially reached a resolution.

recap: on November 28, 2024, K-pop girl group NewJeans announced they were terminating their exclusive contract with ADOR, citing a breach of trust and failure to meet requests for rectification (per The Korea Herald). What followed was a drawn-out battle between the group and their company, with ADOR filing a lawsuit against the group and preventing them from pursuing independent activities. On October 30, 2025 — nearly 11 months after the lawsuit was filed — the Seoul Central District Court ruled that NewJeans’ contract with ADOR was valid (per The Korea Herald).

At time of writing, all members have announced their intent to return to ADOR, effectively ending the dispute.

The NewJeans / ADOR case rocked the Korean music industry. However, this isn’t the first time K-pop artists have terminated contracts with their label — so what sets this case apart from the others?

The main difference is the timing. Other K-pop legal disputes, like JYJ’s lawsuit against SM Entertainment in 2009, took place when K-pop as an industry was still developing within Korea. The NewJeans case, on the other hand, comes at a time when K-pop companies — especially ADOR parent HYBE — are aiming for international expansion.

Exporting the “K-pop methodology”

Spurred by K-pop’s explosion on the global stage, recent years have seen K-pop companies attempt to bring the “K-pop methodology” (i.e., rigorous training or focus on a highly polished performance) to other countries. Overall, this strategy has been successful, with groups like KATSEYE — a global girl group created by HYBE and Geffen Records — receiving a Grammy nomination. However, the NewJeans case highlights possible issues with a wholesale export of the K-pop framework.

The K-pop structure is built on a version of the “360 deal,” in which the entertainment company provides concert, management, brand partnerships, merchandise, and other expanded rights support to the artist along with the standard music production support. An advantage to this model is that it helps build a cohesive artist brand that can expand beyond music — spreading revenue across a variety of sources rather than relying on one segment in particular.

However, it also means that the company has a stake in every aspect of an artist’s career, making it difficult to extricate oneself from a deal should an artist want more creative control.

The return of the “360 deal”

“360 deals” gained prominence in the 2000s, but fell out of favour for a number of reasons, with some artists finding them to be exploitative. However, as expanded rights become a major driver of recorded music revenue growth, these deals are re-entering the conversation — especially as Western music companies get wind of the success K-pop is finding with its all-inclusive artist development model. Many Western artists are reluctant to relinquish their expanded rights to a label, making it difficult to realistically implement the K-pop “360” framework in the West.

So, how does a business model that relies on full creative control thrive in an environment that doesn’t want to give up that control?

While the court ruled in favour of ADOR in the end, the NewJeans case called into question many aspects of the K-pop business model that have been accepted as unchanging truths. We will never know how successful NewJeans would have been as independent artists, but it is easy to understand why they were barred from pursuing independent activities. Similar to how US artists have pushed back against label control, it is possible that the group’s independence would have led to K-pop artists demanding a more equal footing with label management.

In the end, the best strategy may lay in a hybrid model that blends the independence that Western artists value with the integrated approach that has led to K-pop’s success.

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