[news] MNET responds to MAMA boycott by SM and Inwoo

CR:delacroix @ allkpop

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In a phone interview with Money Today on the 3rd, a MNET representative said:

Inwoo and SM Entertainment mentioned that the fairness in selection of candidates was questionable, but that is not true. All candidates were selected fairly through the music charts and data collected on Mnet.com.

If we were to try and exclude artists of certain company, we wouldn't have put artists of those companies on our candidate list to begin with. Also, we would be risking our reputation and fairness if we were to change things just because major entertainment companies disagree with our system. If companies keep complaining about year end ceremonies, then such event cannot exist. The point of this ceremony is celebration by all artists who shined this year with their hard work, so I wish that artists would forget about receiving award or not and just put on an amazing show.


Regarding the fee to vote, the representative explained, "This was done to prevent fans from casting multiple votes on specific artists. It was not done for profit. We are planning on donating profit earned from the voting process back to the music industry."

[news] SM boycotts MAMA

CR: delacroix

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Artistes of SM Entertainment will not be taking part in the 2009 MAMA.

SME announced on November 3rd that their artistes including Super Junior, SNSD, SHINee and f(x) will not be attending MAMA. The reason given was that MAMA will be using a process similar to how MNET's music program M! Countdown selects its winners, and SME does not trust the method nor believe that it is fair.

This latest statement comes as SME does not trust in M! Countdown because of what happened with SNSD's massive hit Gee. While the song topped charts of other television networks for 9 weeks in a row, it failed to reach number one in M! Countdown even once. It only made the top 10, one whole month after the song's release date.

SME thus feel that MNET's method of deciding on their winners cannot be trusted.

Also, there is a MAMA-related popularity poll happening on Mnet's website at the moment. The catch is that you must be registered as a paid member of the website in order to cast a vote. SME feels that fans of SME's artistes should not be spending too much money just to cast votes for their favourite artistes and has hence asked MNET to withdraw SME's artistes from the categories for which they are nominated in MAMA.

~~ and to add to this... SHINee is not nominated to any entries!