First it was BIGBANG‘s Taeyang. Then it was Daesung. Now? It’s iKON.
YG Entertainment‘s third-generation K-Pop boy group iKON will soon bid their farewells to their parent agency after seven years (debuted in 2015). In a statement released today (December 29), the Korean music label released a statement saying members Kim Jinhwan, Bobby, Song Yunhyeong, Goo Junhoe, Kim Donghyuk, and Jung Chanwoo have collectively decided to end their exclusive contract with YG Entertainment. However, the six members would still be able to promote using the “iKON” branding.
Check out the full statement posted on YG Entertainment’s official website, translated by Soompi, below:
“Hello, this is YG Entertainment.
We are informing you that after a long discussion with the iKON members (Kim Jinhwan, Bobby, Song Yunhyeong, Goo Junhoe, Kim Donghyuk, and Jung Chanwoo) about their future activities, out of respect for each other’s opinions, we agreed to end our exclusive contract following the expiration of their contract period.
The six members of iKON will of course be continuing their activities as the group “iKON” in the future, and we are also letting you know that they will continue to communicate with iKONIC [iKON’s fans] through their official social media accounts, including their official fan community Weverse, just as they are now.
We sincerely thank iKON, who has been with us as one of our agency’s artists up until now. We are looking forward to their future activities in a wide variety of fields, and we will be cheering them on.
Additionally, we also thank the iKONIC who were together with us for iKON’s journey. We ask that you continue to give the members your unchanging interest and encouragement as they prepare for a new start.”
On the other hand, the Korean Herald’s subsidiary music outlet, K-Pop Herald, tweeted an exclusive reporting Blackpink moving from YG Entertainment to its affiliate label, THEBLACKLABEL. (The label, founded by YG’s longtime in-house producer Teddy in 2015, recently signed BIGBANG’s Taeyang after his departure from his first label.)
[Exclusive] @BLACKPINK will change their agency to YG affiliate @THEBLACKLABEL, founded by Teddy, according to our sources. The industry insider added that the discussions over changing the girls’ management have been made since early this year. #BLACKPINK #블랙핑크 pic.twitter.com/dVup3zPfTC
— KpopHerald (@Kpop_Herald) December 30, 2022
According to a representative from YG Entertainment, the K-pop quartet still has time left on their current contracts, making it hard to confirm their decisions.
“I’m not in the position to confirm the news, but our contracts with the members have not yet ended,” the rep said to K-Pop Herald. “It’s hard to confirm whether they will sign with The Black Label or not after their contracts end.”
Other than, iKON, actor Kang Dong Won has also parted ways with YG Entertainment alongside Taeyang and Daesung of BIGBANG.