Lee Seung Gi Says to Have Gotten Paid Nothing for Over 130 Songs from His Debut Song

It has been revealed that singer/actor Lee Seung Gi did not get paid at all for his songs that he released since 2004. 

On November 21, news outlet Dispatch shared a shocking report about Lee Seung Gi. 

The report stated that Lee Seung Gi's agency Hook Entertainment did not pay him for his 27 albums/137 songs that he dropped in the last 18 years since he made debut. 

Back in June 2004, Lee Seung Gi swept various music charts in Korea with his debut song 'Because You Are My Girl'.  

'Because You Are My Girl' made such a great hit that it made Lee Seung Gi rise to stardom right away. 

Lately, he has been more focused on building his career in acting, but many of his songs including 'Erase', 'Will You Marry Me?', 'Turning Back' and more have charted no. 1. 
According to Hook Entertainment's transactions that Dispatch acquired, the agency received about 9.6 billion won (approximately 7.1 million dollars) from the record distributor for Lee Seung Gi's songs so far. 

This excludes the amount of money the agency received from their distribution company from June 2004 and August 2009; Dispatch discovered that the transactions from this time have been deleted. 

If they followed the terms of their contract, the agency should have given at least 5.8 billion won (approximately 4.3 million dollars) to Lee Seung Gi. 

But the reality was that Lee Seung Gi got paid nothing for all those songs that he has released until this very moment. 
Lee Seung Gi realized that something was wrong in the beginning of last year when he received a text message that was mistakenly sent to him, instead of someone at his agency. 

In the message, it said that Hook Entertainment was going to receive 33 million won (approximately 24,000 dollars) for the sales of his album 'The Project' and profit from streaming of the album. 

After receiving this message, Lee Seung Gi excitedly told a close sunbae in the music industry, "Hyung, it seems like I do make money with my songs. Hook Entertainment will apparently receive 33 million won for my latest album." 

The sunbae responded in surprise, "What are you talking about? You've made tonnes of money up to now. Have you never gotten paid for your songs?" 

Lee Seung Gi replied, "Ah yes. I was always told that I made minus with my songs that I was a 'minus' singer."  

The sunbae told Lee Seung Gi to go over his contract, and he checked his contract thoroughly afterwards. 
When Lee Seung Gi realized that he did not get paid for what he should have gotten paid, he continuously asked the directors of his agency for explanation as well as payment. 

What he got from them was not what he expected though; they 'reminded' him that he is a 'minus' singer, and even had a go at him for it. 

Lee Seung Gi's manager also joined him on this matter, and one of the directors told him, "Don't spend too much with the company money. Have Lee Seung Gi pay for his meal at least once a day during shooting. Lee Seung Gi has gone nuts. Know where to stick to, okay? This is my last warning." 

So, Lee Seung Gi recently ended up filing a document against Hook Entertainment, demanding a transparent record of his earnings and payments. 
Then on November 17, Lee Seung Gi straightforwardly told the head of his agency how he feels about the whole situation, when she messaged him to film well in the cold weather. 

In his message, Lee Seung Gi said, "My manager told me that you are furious with me about asking for a transparent record of my earnings and payments that you will have me killed whatever happens. I asked for the record for the past year, but you weren't responding to it. I filed a legal document, because I wanted to claim my right. But how could you threaten me like this?" 

He continued, "I'm a 37-year-old grown up man, but I'm being treated like an unimportant 18-year-old high school student, who gets bashed for everything he does. It truly makes me feel frustrated. You've disregarded me, my family, manager and friends on purpose. I won't let you treat my people that way anymore. I'm going to step up now." 

He added, "If your threats refrain me from being in the industry, I'll take it as my destiny. I don't want to make things any worse with you. Please contact me through my attorney from now on." 

(Credit= 'leeseunggi.official' Instagram) 

(SBS Star)