Politician Kim Geun Tae has accused various artists of rigging music charts in their interests, namely BOL4, GWSN, Kikwang, and several others. He raised the issue of deception on different music streaming operating systems during his media conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday, April 8. 

(Photo : Twitter)

"Under-marketing business 'Creator' has manipulated music charts using the identities of ordinary people obtained by illegal data theft in China and elsewhere," he said.

"They used thousands, tens of thousands of profiles to distort the music charts. We obtained a list of 1,716 Daum and Melon ID's used in manipulating the statistics. The original owners of those accounts varied from 1935 to 2004 in birth year," he added.

The 'Creator' would lease out a server and split it up into distinct partitions, according to Kim Geun Tae. Each partition will then have numerous instances of streaming audio software playing songs from several musicians. Some barriers have also been changed to make the application think that it has operated the streaming application's mobile version. They'd concentrate solely on streaming around 9 P.M. and 11 P.M. KST, where there are fewer consumers, and it's easier to increase the ranking of a song.

"The company clarified that when the concerns were first brought up, they were still using viral marketing, but what they were doing was illicit under-marketing," he claimed.

"Ko Seung Hyun, GWSN, Badkiz, BOL4, Song Haye, Young Tak, Yoyomi, Sohyang, Ali, and Kikwang Highlight are the artists we have verified to have gained from this exploitation. They would also include tracks from famous singers like IU, as a way to cover the manipulation," he went on.

Kim Geun Tae demanded authorities to search and prosecute the corporations involved. He expressed that his justification for this was because there were many artists buried under due to other people's illegal acts, and that he and his political group would not accept corruption or foul play.

In response, several of the musicians' companies listed by Park Geun Tae have issued their public statements, denouncing any misdemeanors and threatening counter-legal action against him because of his false allegations.

"We did not control the music charts, and we do not recognize this business called Creator. We will, therefore, pursue legal action against the publication of false information relating to this issue," said Shofar Music, BOL4's agency.

"Claims of manipulation of the chart are not factual. It's completely unsubstantiated," GWSN's company Kiwi Pop said.

"The statement is completely unfounded. We will bring legal proceedings against the publication of false narratives," Around Us Entertainment, Highlight Kikwang's agency, stated.

"There is no evidence about the allegation of exploitation. It is downright groundless," said School Music Entertainment, Yoyomi's agency.

In Korea, sajaegi usually refers to the illicit bulk purchasing of any item. For example, a South Korean corporation recently sajaegi-ed more than four million face-masks due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

But sajaegi has a more standard definition in music - fraudulently and unlawfully boosting a rating list. For instance, entertainment companies bulk-buying their CDs, or, perhaps more probable in the digital world, use bots or machine farms to play songs endlessly and raise chart rankings.

Sajaegi controversies are challenging the Korean music business, questioning online rankings, entertainment companies, and even some fan interest on the reputation.