CJ ENM will become the sole management of boy band TOO, the company said on Tuesday, after a dispute with the band's other agency, n.CH Entertainment, worsened earlier this month.

TOO debuted in April last year with the 10 winning contestants of cable channel Mnet's audition program "To Be World Klass" were chosen in December 2019. CJ ENM is the operator of Mnet.

When the audition for "To Be World Klass" began in October 2018, the two companies had agreed on a seven-year contract starting from the moment of the resulting band's debut, n.CH Entertainment said.

While CJ ENM's sublabel Stone Music Entertainment took charge of marketing and music production of the band, n.CH Entertainment was responsible for the management, training and promotion.

The issue began in May when n.CH said it did not receive a copy of the draft of the contract where CJ ENM was to sign a seven-year management deal for the band.

The two parties came together to sign an agreement letter in August last year, but they failed to see eye to eye on conditions.

n.CH Entertainment claims that CJ ENM signed an agreement to pay for the agency’s work leading up to that month on the condition that an official management contract was signed within three months.


According to CJ ENM, it holds all rights to the band and had only hired n.CH Entertainment as an outside workforce for PR and management. The company also has a copy of a contract that spells out August 2020 as the expiry date of n.CH Entertainment's management, according to CJ ENM.

They did agree to work on the details of a new contract for three more months, but failed to come to an understanding because a former employee of CJ ENM, who was also a major shareholder of n.CH Entertainment, had written a contract that "had overly reflected on n.CH Entertainment's interests."

"We emphasize that this issue comes as a result of the two companies failing to come to an agreement, no more and no less than that," CJ ENM said.

"As the management agency contract with n.CH Entertainment has come to an end, CJ ENM will now be taking over the management of TOO. We promise to support them to become great artists with great responsibility."

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]