Former CEO among 11 indicted for alleged K-Pop chart manipulation

The prosecution began investigating this case in October 2022, noting its complexity due to the numerous accounts and over 130,000 pages of crime records involved.

11 individuals, including a former CEO of an entertainment agency, have been charged without detention for allegedly manipulating music charts to artificially boost the rankings of 15 K-Pop songs, according to a report by Chosun.

On May 21, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, under the leadership of Chief Prosecutor Jeong Ji Eun, announced the indictment of Mr Kim, a former entertainment agency CEO, along with ten others. They are accused of business interference using computer systems to manipulate music chart rankings.

Three entertainment agencies reportedly solicited Kim’s services, and songs by artists from Kim’s own company were also affected. Among the manipulated songs were Young Tak’s 'Why Are You Coming Out from There', NATURE’s 'Oopsie (My Bad)', and KCM’s 'Between Love and Friendship'.

Kim and his team allegedly assigned IP addresses to numerous virtual PCs and divided access through multiple accounts to circumvent the music sites’ anti-abuse systems. Mr Lee, the former CEO of trot singer Young Tak’s agency, is among those indicted, suspected of requesting chart manipulation. However, Young Tak himself has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The scheme involved manipulating rankings on major Korean music sites by streaming 15 songs over 1.72 million times using more than 500 virtual PCs and illegally obtained personal data from 1,627 individuals.

Investigators revealed that Kim, who ran an entertainment and PR agency, received requests for such manipulation through a business intermediary. He reportedly charged between 30.0 million KRW (about $22,100 USD) and 160 million KRW (about $118,000 USD) per song. If the manipulation was ineffective, partial refunds were allegedly provided.

The prosecution began investigating this case in October 2022, noting its complexity due to the numerous accounts and over 130,000 pages of crime records involved. Initially, the police did not refer Young Tak’s case for prosecution, citing a lack of evidence regarding his awareness of the manipulation. However, a subsequent complaint filed in November 2021 prompted further investigation, which confirmed the initial conclusion, leading to the dismissal of charges against Young Tak.

The prosecution emphasised the systematic nature of music chart manipulation as a long-standing issue in the industry. They pledged to ensure appropriate sentences for the crimes committed by the defendants, highlighting the severity of the offences and their commitment to maintaining the integrity of music charts.