Pop singer Rain and JYP Entertainment have apparently lost their US court case and have been ordered to pay over $8 million in damages for canceling Rain’s 2007 concert in Hawaii. Ouch!
You can read all about it in The Hollywood Reporter (and many other newswire sources).
Rain and JYP Entertainment must each pay $2.4 million, with an additional $2.3 million for breach of contract and $1 million for damages related to the cancellation.
Because Rain canceled other tour dates that year, this could see a bunch of additional lawsuits. The most pressing one, $30 million for the LA concert cancellation, seems quite different than the Hawaii case and I think Rain should be in better shape.
But even if he wins in LA, that loss in Hawaii has got to hurt.
This loss by Rain does not make up for the 2 million won that my agency here in Korea is withholding from me for specious reasons — but it does help ease the pain.
Rain feels the pain.
Why was the location / tour cancelled?
Rain would NEVER cancel a concert willingly. In an earlier concert in Singapore on the same world tour, he went without a cast and performed in pain with a broken arm in order to not disappoint his fans.
Rain has been victimized twice in this case – first by unscrupulous management and production companies who abused Rain’s reputation to make money, and a second time by the American court system.
Rain’s management company, JYP Entertainment, sold the production rights for Rain’s North American tour to Star M Entertainment for $10 million. Star M’s CEO in turn sold rights to some of the concerts to a friend’s company, Revolution Entertainment. Those two companies, both of which are now defunct, made the decisions to cancel. Rain had no control over those decisions and I have read accounts of eyewitnesses who said he tearfully begged to perform before the LA concert, but was not allowed to do so.
I think Americans lack an understanding of the differences between the Korean and American entertainment industry and that may have factored into the decision of the judge and jurors. In the US, artists hire their agents. In Korea, entertainment companies hire artists and make decisions over which artists have very little control. The role of the artist is to practice hard, put on the best performance he or she can, and avoid scandal. Rain has performed this role responsibly and is respected as working harder than anyone else in the industry.
It is a shame that the greed of others have caused so much damage to the reputation and career of this talented artist.
How do you know Rain et al. would NEVER cancel a concert willingly? Victim…really?
It was a fraudulent business scheme from the start, and he benefited from it. The local promoters/ticket buyers in Canada and the USA (maybe China too) are the true victims. Who by-the-way are still waiting for their refunds. If Bi is such a nice and rich guy, AS ONLY BI FANS AND PAID KOREAN MEDIA SPOKESPEOPLE CLAIM…why doesn’t he give his fans ticket refunds? Culture difference ha ha, “cunning” is “cunning,” anywhere in the world!