🔗 Column: What NewJeans’ legal defeat reminds us about the music industry

Column: What NewJeans’ legal defeat reminds us about the music industry

Author: Emily Cui

Nov. 18, 2025, 1 p.m.

At the height of their career in 2023, K-pop girl group NewJeans was expected to redefine the K-pop genre forever. Today, NewJeans doesn’t even seem to be on the same playing field. What happened?

Formed by ADOR, a sub-label of HYBE (the same entertainment company managing BTS,Seventeen, ENHYPEN and other major K-pop acts), NewJeans was positioned for fame since the very beginning. Their debut single released in August 2022 and sold a record-breaking 1 million copies, and their distinct, Y2K-style songs quickly became internet-viral. They were the fastest Korean act to hit 1 billion Spotify streams, reaching the milestone in a mere 219 days, and were also the first K-pop girl group to perform at Lollapalooza.

In November 2024, NewJeans announced in a press conference that they planned to terminate their exclusive contract with ADOR, citing mistreatment, manipulation and breach of contract.

According to NewJeans, ADOR no longer had any “sincerity in the art of music that is created,” and was only focused on “making money.” They felt they could no longer trust the company to care about their personal well-being or growth as artists, especially since ADOR CEO and executive producer of NewJeans Min Hee-jin had been dismissed two months prior. The members refused to cooperate unless she was reinstated. Min was quite close with the members and largely credited as one of the reasons behind NewJeans’ massive success.

In response, ADOR stated that it had “not violated the terms of the agreement” and that the exclusive contract was still in full effect. In December, it filed a lawsuit requesting for the Seoul Central District Court to verify the validity of the contract.

That marked the beginning of both a year-long legal dispute and a year-long NewJeans release drought.

The legal battle was heavily publicized, with the NewJeans members (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein) each actively involved. Members gave statements both in court and online about exploitation and workplace harassment, and stated HYBE was “secretly following us, defaming us and spreading false information through media outlets.” They demanded that HYBE reinstate Min as ADOR’s CEO, which was ignored.

On Dec. 15, they launched a personal Instagram (@jeanzforfree, eventually renamed to @njz_official) to continue updating fans on ADOR’s actions and to advocate for themselves. However, following a court ruling against NewJeans, the account was renamed to @mhdhh_friends and all posts discussing the issue were deleted.

NewJeans also attempted to rebrand as “NJZ” in February 2025, hosting their own performance and announcing an upcoming song. Unfortunately, the following month, the Seoul court ruled that NewJeans could not pursue independent activities (as both NewJeans or NJZ) since their exclusive contract was still technically active. If they operated as a band without ADOR’s explicit permission, each member would have to pay 1 billion Korean won (approximately $700,000 USD) per violation. NewJeans filed an objection to this injunction, but the court rejected it and affirmed its previous ruling. The group has been on indefinite hiatus since.

For the last year, the court has consistently backed up ADOR’s claims and stated that NewJeans’ complaints weren’t enough to void the contract. Subsequent appeals have also been dismissed.

The final nail in the coffin was on Oct. 28 when the court ruled that NewJeans’ exclusive contract, scheduled to end in 2029, was still valid. The court stated that it was “difficult to conclude that Ador breached the exclusive contract solely on the grounds of Min Hee-jin’s dismissal.” NewJeans immediately announced they planned to appeal the ruling, adding that it was “impossible for them to return and continue normal entertainment activities under the company.”

However, on Nov. 12, ADOR announced that Haerin and Hyein had reconsidered the situation and agreed to comply with the exclusive contract. Following this, members Danielle, Minji and Hanni stated that they would also be returning to ADOR through “some media,” though ADOR has yet to confirm this ambiguous statement.

NewJeans’ struggle reflects a broader issue in the music industry: power imbalances between artists and their companies.

Entertainment contracts tend to favor the record label. There’s a trend of artists signing themselves to record labels when they’re young, allowing managers control over their brand. Traditionally, contracts allow labels ownership over the artists’ materials (music videos, photographers, unreleased works, etc.) and royalties in exchange for financial support for the artist. This also grants them significant leverage over the artist.

The most famous recent example is Taylor Swift’s dispute with Big Machine Records. In accordance with her contract, she didn’t own the master recordings of her music, which meant she earned a relatively small royalty and couldn’t control how her music was distributed and used.

Fortunately, she was eventually able to purchase her master recordings for $360 million and now has full autonomy over her work.

However, this isn’t the case for most artists, NewJeans included. Renegotiating the terms in a seemingly unfair contract is merely a pipe dream, especially when considering K-pop’s infamous seven-year contracts.

Post-debut, there’s usually only two ways out of the contract: the group disbanding (usually due to financial issues or serious controversy), or waiting until it expires. Leaving prematurely is virtually impossible due to the required fee; for example, NewJeans would have to pay 300 billion Korean won (approximately $200 million USD) to terminate the contract early.

Most groups don’t have that money. So if idols begin to dislike their careers, which can be exhausting and demanding due to severe overworking and restrictions, they have no choice but to deal with it. Consequently, groups have historically disbanded as soon as their contract expires, a phenomenon referred to as the “7 Year Curse.”

And while K-pop idols today tend to prematurely renew their contracts instead, they still face overworking, unfair compensation and pressure. Additionally, South Korean law classifies K-pop idols as independent contractors instead of workers, which means they aren’t entitled to labor protections.

If NewJeans, one of the biggest K-pop at the time, couldn’t get their foot into (or out of) the door, how are other groups supposed to advocate for themselves?

Although NewJeans ultimately conceded to ADOR, their legal battle has sparked an important conversation about the power dynamics between artists and their labels.

We might be back to square one, but what happens next is anyone’s guess.