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During an interview with music site 'NOISEY', Brad opened up about his experience transitioning from an English teacher to the star drummer of the biggest band in the Korean music scene lately.
He brought up quite a few points that have fans back in Korea as well as overseas raising their eyebrows. The interview can be broken down into six main parts. (For the complete interview, check it out here. For the TLDR version of this issue, read the bolded orange points below)
1. Busker Busker's participation in 'Superstar K' had been a premeditated move by the show.
Brad reveals that 'Superstar K' had actually called up member Jang Bum Joon, who had been rejected in the prelims as a solo act of the show's previous seasons, after hearing that he was forming a band.
"They just needed diversity in their narrative, in their broadcasting�so they had us come in to make the show look successful," Moore explains. "Even though they had called us."
2. Performances aired on broadcast weren't actually completely live performances as they were 'doctored in post-production'.
"The recording was so bad that Two Months had to go back in and re-record their vocals, because no one would've believed they passed with that performance," Moore explains. "And the miking on these TV shows is crap, so the whole thing had to be super-produced. They had to Auto-Tune my drums, they had to Auto-Tune everything. So when they put it on television, it sounded like this really nice, professional track."
3. The dorm environment was strict and 'autocratic'.
His phone and wallet were confiscated upon arrival, and he would remain confined until whenever Busker Busker lost....4. All the money went to CJ E&M/Mnet during the show.
During that time, he was force fed a slimming diet of salad and tofu. "Involuntary makeup" was an everyday ritual, and the show's producers frequently aimed snide barbs at the musicians' physiques. Weirder still was Superstar K's daily request for the contestants�mostly in their twenties or late teens�to take advantage of their gratis Botox regimens. Many obliged every few days, Moore remembers, and after some initial resistance he finally acquiesced.
"We were popular because we were on TV, but we couldn't legally make money," Moore says, underscoring a strange norm in Korean entertainment law. "We were at 'amateur status' in the broadcasting contract. So, like, Coca-Cola comes in and we spend all day doing a Coca-Cola commercial, but they pay the [show's] company�not the artist. We were on the show for eight weeks straight, and we did commercials for eight weeks straight. We took home no money from that."
5. Ulala Session's win was scripted.
"Our sales were in the millions [USD]. One song, 'Makgeollina,' sold $1.4 million in a month and a half�and yet we saw nothing from that"
Everyone on the show had known long in advance that Ulala Session, the other finalists, were all but scripted to win.
"He [manager] said, 'Okay, Ulala Session is going to be announced winners, they'll say thank-yous, [you're] gonna say thank-yous�and what you guys gotta do is get Dani up onstage'"
6. Their hiatus after releasing 'Busker Busker 1st Album' was due to simply wanting a break after being overworked.
There were rumors initially when Busker Busker went on hiatus after their first album release that they were having problems with CJ E&M, but Brad reveals that CJ E&M had actually upheld the contractual part of the bargain that they struck with the band. The demands of the band included being able to write their own songs, play their own instruments, choose their production staff, record in Cheonan, and only bound to a 6-month contract. Although the band got their way in terms of the contract terms, CJ E&M worked them hard, not allowing for any rest.
"The CJ time, those six months�I mean, it was like the TV show. It sucked. They booked us every day, all day, because contractually they could," Moore says. His one anchor during this time was Bacon, who could now accompany Busker Busker wherever they went (one of the band's six conditional demands). Their insane K-Pop itinerary was only exacerbated by the fact that the couple were completing their graduate degrees at the same time, coming home from press junkets and sold out arenas to peck away at their laptops. CJ tried to book them even after their contract's June 30th expiration, but once free, Busker Busker again defied Korean norms: they canceled everything, and took a break.
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With his interview becoming translated and circulating Korean media, the issue blew up and CJ E&M as well as the staff of 'Superstar K' were contacted for a response.
Through phone calls with a few media outlets, reps of both revealed their stance on the points raised by Brad's interview.
A rep from Mnet for 'Superstark K' commented, "It's unfortunate as it seems like this problem has risen because Brad's insufficient understanding about the broadcast system and Korean entertainment businesses...Chungchun Music [the band's current agency] also didn't realize that Brad would say something like this... Brad probably didn't intend for it to come out like this either. We're currently waiting for Chungchun Music's official statement. We will organize our official position after we've resolved the misunderstanding."
"The Coca-Cola advertisement that Brad mentioned is a main sponsor advertisement [of 'Superstar K']. The conditions of that ad is that the contestants must film for it... So it was not their personal commercial, but a company one."
"About the content about the dorm, we already showed the contestants going into see dermatologists and getting procedures done on the broadcast... This is all just a process of becoming a pro along with getting vocal training as a singer."
A CJ E&M rep also said along similar lines, "We have already paid out for the pay associated with the refreshment advertisement that Brad mentioned... We also co-produced Busker Busker's 2nd album and organized their national tour. If there were problems between us, then we wouldn't have worked together."
Regarding the part about post-production on these 'live performances' , the rep stated, "Many music programs do a bit of touching up... Mnet and CJ E&M have never held back on their support for 'Superstar K' contestants... We're worried that because of this, it will tarnish the intention of the show which aims to discover new musicians."
[Update] - Various reps have also addressed the matter of Ulala Session's win being scripted and Busker Busker's participation in the show being premeditated.
"The words to Busker Busker about Ulala Session winning was said when we were telling them what would happen in the case that Ulala Session did win... Rather than us scouting them [Busker Busker], we had made a request about them joining the audition... The decision of joining is up to the participants. We cannot force them."
Source: Dispatch, NOISEY, TVDaily, Sports Seoul, Newsen
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