♥F A N G I R L Sت

Sunday, December 13, 2009 FG SURPRISES YET AGAIN

After dominating the Asian music since their debut back in 2007, the FanGirls have taken semi-hiatus from group activities and concentrated on solo activities third quarter of this year. Just last month, the girls surprised everyone when they released the song Party the FG way without releasing an announcement for the single beforehand. Nevertheless, the song quickly became a favorite and quickly rose to the top of the charts, proving yet again the power this awesome four yields.

In response to the success of the single, GRM Entertainment have decided to release an EP early next year. Party the FG way EP will contain five songs in all, with the hit song as the carrier single. In addition, each member will have their own track. G-Yan will give us the ballad You and I, leader Suzy will go acoustic with Roller Coaster Love, Alyce will tease us with Kiss and maknae Tin with One less lonely girl.

“The EP was supposed to be released November but unfortunately, a lot of things occurred and the EP did not make the deadline. This gave us more time to improve the songs. Expect to better FG and fun EP early next year.”

Another exciting news, is that GRM Ent. also stated to release a Christmas album by their artists. A remix of Twelve days of Christmas will be the highlights of the album which will be a collaboration by FG, Nitsuga, Mark Anthony and soon to debut artists MC Art, Jeanda P. and f(x). A great way to introduce the newbies and show GRM Ent. Family Love. As for the rest of the tracks, “all will just have to wait and see.”

Seems like GRM Ent Family is on full force even this Christmas season. This news is another reason to look forward to the Holiday season and the upcoming year.

Labels: hot_pink

Sign off @ 3:15 PM

Sunday, December 6, 2009 FanGirls' contract clauses leaked.

Eversince the TVXQ vs. SME lawsuit broke, The Korean Government has been investigating the contracts made by talent agencies and have found that most of them have indeed unfair terms and what could be considered as ”slave contracts”. The said investigation has caused uproar and was met with complains by some agencies as they stated it being “invasion of company privacy” and that the contents of the contract is “strictly between the company and the artist who signed them”.

However, GRM Entertainment has cooperated with the government and willingly welcomed the investigation stating that the company has “transparency of the contents and salary of the artists if they wish to inquire”. Furthermore, GRM Ent. CEO, Gretchen Reyes-Matsuhisa, herself released a statement after the investigation finished and the company was announced to have passed.

“We have complete transparency of the contract terms and conditions with the artists. We make sure they (the artist) understood and agree to the contents before letting them sign. In fact, we revised the FG contract twice before the company and FG have finally signed.

As much as possible we ask for their opinion on things and if ever we (the company) and the FG may have different view on some things, it is immediately solved by compromising. They know that they can have a copy of their earnings and how it is used if they wish to. At the end of each year, we have a meeting with the artist to discuss the management for the year and this is also the time they are explained of the money distribution, schedule arrangement and basically everything for the year. This is also the chance they can voice out any opinion they wish about how they are handled. The final decision which is the compromise met by the company and the group is then carried and executed the first day of the next year. That way, the good relationship between the company and the artist are maintained.”

The statement received mixed statements amongst netizens, some saying,
“it's too good to be true.”,
“they're hiding something somewhere in there”

But some also praised GRM Ent.
“that's how it SHOULD be!! way to go GRM!”
“I'd vote for her if she ran for President or something”
“The TVXQ boys should just ditch SME & transfer to GRM. That way, everybody happy”

To add more fire to the already burning issue, an alleged copy of the FG contract was leaked to the web. Fans explained some of the clauses:

> FanGirls' members Suzette Rances, Gryanne Yanazawa and Jane Alyce Wu will have exclusive contract with GRM Entertainment for five consecutive years, starting from January 2007 to January 2011. All transactions outside companies wish to make involving the three will be handled by the managers and producers under GRM Ent. Should Ms. Rances, Ms. Yanazawa and Ms. Wu wish to pursue solo projects, they will have to inform the company and a compromise will be made. Kristine Marie Paige will have exclusive contract with GRM Entertainment for three consecutive years, starting from January 2007 to January 2009. All transactions outside companies wish to make involving the three will be handled by the managers and producers under GRM Ent. and Taishung Model Agency. Should Ms. Paige wish to pursue solo projects, she will have to inform the two companies and a compromise will be made.

explanation: Tin only signed for three years since she is also under a different talent agency in Taiwan which manages her activities there. She has been under the same agency before signing with FG. The Taiwan agency agreed to let Tin sign under GRM Ent. as an FG member and in return GRM Ent. allowed Tin to do activities is Taiwan while still an FG member. Obviously, she renewed the contract since she is still an FG member as of present.

The three FG members are all directly under GRM Ent. Alyce has been with the company the longest, being the company she signed when she went professional with her dancing. Suzy's exclusive contract with MTV Asia has expired by the time GRM Ent. offered her the FG contract and chose not to renew the previous contract. G-Yan was under the management of her father eversince she debuted as a pianist but agreed to turn the management over (with approval of Mr. Yanazawa, of course) to GRM Ent.

> All expenses involving the Fangirls will be taken form the groups' total earnings. Any amount left will then be split 50-50 between GRM Ent. and the group members. In the event that an FG member has solo project/activity, the earnings for the said project will be split by the company and the FG member only. All expenses involving the member in the solo project/activity will be taken from her total earnings. Any amount left will then be split 60-40 between the member and GRM Ent. respectively. This will be done at the end of each year where a detailed overall audit of the group's earnings will be done and a copy will be given to all parties involved. A separate detailed audit of individual member's earnings will be done and a copy will be given to the involved member.

explanation: (note: figures used in here are only examples. only the company & FG members know the right amount) The total expenses for the groups activities (i.e plane tickets, hotel accommodations, stylist, etc.) is 800,00, this will be subtracted from the group's total earnings. so that's 5.5 million (of course FG earns waaay more than that) – 800,00 = 4.7 million. the 4.7 million will then be split in equal half between GRM Ent. and the girls. the two parties will be receiving roughly 2.3 million. that 2.3 million will again be split into 4 with each member receiving roughly 575,000.

while the solo project earnings will be split differently. let's say, a certain member earns a total of 3.2 million and the total expenses for her is 400,000. that leaves 2.8 million to be divided by GRM Ent. and the member 40-60. GRM Ent. will have a clean 1.1 million and the member a hefty 1.7 million. solo projects is where the girls can really rack up some money.

i don't know how Tin's earnings are divided since she has two agencies but i think that'll matter on solo projects. but i'm not sure though.

> GRM Entertainment will have full rights to any FanGirls' song, produced by GRM Ent. to distribute or re-arrange for other artist even without the knowledge and consent of the FG members.

explanation: of course they can. they produced it so they can do whatever they can with it. problem is, no matter who else sing it or how it is “re-arranged” it will still be identified as an FG original. i don't think this clause matters that much.

> Should any member venture into personal business, the three involved parties (GRM Ent., the member and the business company) will meet and discuss all aspect.

explanation: okay, i need more info about this. i don't think that's the only content of that clause. in my opinion,i don't think GRM Ent. should take part in the profit division if the business is indeed personal. but then again, each member is on an “exclusive” contract with GRM Ent. it's good though that they included this in the contract contents. at least, both parties have some thing to refer too which i think what the TVXQ boys lacked.

It is unclear whether the content of the leaked contract is indeed the actual one signed by the girls, still it is something that other artist can envy. As for this time, JYP Entertainment have claimed to have revamp their contracts in accordance to the standard of the Korean Government but we still have to wait if it will pass investigation.

As for now we can only hope other artist have even half of what's in the FG contract and wish the TVXQ boys luck on their part.

Labels: hot_pink

Sign off @ 4:45 PM

Friday, December 4, 2009 FGs pull another “watch & go” for New Moon.

New Moon is sweeping the world once again, eager to know what happens next on the world crossed love between a mortal and a vampire. People are gushing about a certain mind-reading vampire (Team Edward) or hopelessly in love werewolf (Team Jacob).

...and seems like the FG are no exception.

Suzy,G-Yan and Tin made a “secret” outing on Wednesday at SM (not the Entertainment agency) Mall Cinema to watch the 4:46 show with three bodyguards and two stylists. Their “outing” started out as planned when some fans recognized them rushing inside the theater minutes before the movie started (preferably since the lights are already dimmed). News quickly spread and fans flocked to buy tickets, filling up the cinema to it's maximum. Some fans failed to get inside the cinema and contented themselves waiting outside.

Several fan accounts surged the net hours after.

“They were seated at the premiere section, center box, first row, surrounded by their companions. I was seated two rows behind them, right box. G-Yan was in the center and she wore glasses. She and Tin were eating, Suzy was chatting with the stylists. They seemed concentrated on the movie until a half-naked Jacob showed on screen. G-Yan and Tin squealed (I thought they were Team Edward?) while Suzy was grinding. G-Yan's side comments for Jacob was fun to listen to. Suzy has also decided to be on Team Alyce-Jacob. They were probably aware of the presence of fans, some of them weren't really discreet with their admiration, but they seemed to get on and not be bothered by it. Minutes before the movie ended, one bodyguard got out, probably to ready the car for a quick escape. They left as soon as the movie ended. It surprised me, really. As soon as after Edward asked Bella to marry him, they got up and got out hurriedly. Fans also started follow them.”

Outside, mall guards were already deployed to control the crowd which grew to nearly a hundred, went frantic when the FG and their group appeared. The girls were immediately rushed to their awaiting car and drove off.

A fan managed to ask Tin what she thought of the movie and the FG proclaimed she is already a fan. G-Yan has reportedly read the whole series and is starting to re-read while Suzy admitted to have stopped half way through the third book (Eclipse). The two even went to catch the last full show when Twilight was shown.

Seems like the FG are trying to do “normal people” stuff as they also pulled the same stunt before when Angels and Demon showed. Suzy & Tin treated some GRM trainees to Transformers 2 while Suzy & G-Yan made another almost successful watch & go with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, that is when both of them squealed at one scene (the only once in the theater to do so) and thus, giving them away.

Alyce, however, was is China to judge this year's Asian Dance Festival which she has won three consecutive times before. We have yet to see her at the cinemas.

Meanwhile, we shall look forward to another movie and another watch & go by the FG members.

Labels: hot_pink

Sign off @ 7:58 PM