Lee Seung Gi Is Called Unpaid For 18 Years Of Music

Lee Seung Gi's management, Hook Entertainment, was searched by the police some time ago on suspicion of embezzlement and fraud. Shortly after, the actor asked for transparency in his 18-year management career. Lee Seung Gi is not only known as a successful actor. During his career, he also often released a number of songs that were popular so that he was known as a multitalented artist.

However, Dispatch revealed that Lee Seung Gi did not get paid a penny for his career in the music world. This was known when the actor received an incorrect message sent in 2021 regarding details of the profits he got from his hit songs. All this time, Lee Seung Gi felt himself to be a 'minus musician' which is defined as a musician who is at a loss and is not successful. 

However, when he confided in a senior about the message, he realized that his salary as a musician was very large and so far he had never received it from management. Based on the documents obtained by Dispatch, Lee Seung Gi should have made a profit of KRW 63 million (Rp. 740 million) for digital sales of the song The Ordinary Man, up to sales of his seventh album titled The Project, which was calculated at KRW 170 million (Rp. 1.9 billion). 

It is known that throughout his musical career, Lee Seung Gi has released 137 songs. So it is predicted, Lee Seung Gi should get a profit of more than KRW 10 billion (Rp. 115 billion). Speaking of contracts, Lee Seung Gi first signed with Hook Entertainment in 2004, and the two agreed to split the profits 4:6 with 40 percent for Lee Seung Gi and 60 percent for Hook Entertainment.

The deals kept changing until in 2017, Lee Seung Gi got 70 percent of the profits and 30 percent for management. Even so, Hook Entertainment asked the artist to be responsible for agency fees and other costs that should be handled by the agency. This made Lee Seung Gi not get any profit because all production costs were borne by the artist. 

Usually, artists of Lee Seung Gi's class receive an 8:2 split and the expenses are also shared in the same figure. In the end, management offered a 7:3 split on the condition that management covered production costs. Regarding Dispatch's disclosure, neither Lee Seung Gi nor Hook Entertainment have yet to speak up.