Jo Beomjin, director of VM Production, responsible for producing the disputed teaser video of K-pop group EXO, wrote a lengthy online article offering his take on the EXO plagiarism scandal on Thursday.
Jo said he had offered to buy graphics from two foreign artists, one of whom continuously gave slow feedback and caused miscommunication. Shortly after the video was released, the artist in question asked for higher payment than previously agreed upon.
Upset at the artist’s demands, Jo wanted to cut the graphic out from the clip altogether, but the video had already gone viral.
When Sweden’s Erik Soderberg raised a plagiarism issue on YouTube regarding the video “EXO 2015 COMING SOON,” Jo said he was taken by surprise as he assumed the graphics belonged to the two artists he had contacted.
It is said that the two artists in question did not fully reveal the source of graphics used in EXO’s video.
VM Production eventually settled the dispute with Soderberg by paying a fee for the graphics. Soderberg wrote on his Twitter on Jan. 15: “EXO fans - the video is back online and everything seems to be sorted out. Happy that Seo Dong Hyeok solved this fast and correctly. =).”