G.E.M. Faces HK$120 Million Lawsuit with Hummingbird Music
Hummingbird Music (蜂鳥音樂), the management agency of G.E.M. (鄧紫棋), is suing the artist over disagreements about her exclusive contract.
The company, G.E.M.’s management agency of 11 years, officially submitted a lawsuit against G.E.M. to Hong Kong’s High Court on March 28, seeking validation of her exclusive contract. G.E.M.’s dispute with her company came to light on March 7, when the artist shared on social media that she had been in disagreements with her label for months, leading her to come to the decision of contract termination. According to G.E.M., her label had severely violated her contractual rights despite repeatedly giving the company second chances.
According to the court documents submitted by Hummingbird Music, G.E.M. (real name Gloria Tang Sze-wing 鄧詩穎) first signed a five-year contract with the label in 2007, with exclusive songwriting, management, and artiste agreements. Both parties renewed the contract in March 2012 for another five years. In March 2014, three years before the contract’s end, G.E.M. signed a second renewal, also for five years. Although the date was not written on paper, Hummingbird Music claimed that there was a consensus that the renewed contract would not take effect until March 2017, thus putting the new end date to March 2022.
G.E.M., however, is stating that her relationship with Hummingbird Music ended in March 2019.
Through court, Hummingbird Music is looking to validate G.E.M.’s exclusive contract and the rights to maintain ownership of all of G.E.M.’s copyrighted work, including her stage name.
Should G.E.M. insist on her departure, she may have to pay for the damages, as Hummingbird Music claimed it would suffer a loss of HK$40 million per year until 2022, including another HK$2.6 million from cancelled concerts and 6 million yuan from cancelled Chinese endorsements, totaling HK$120 million.
In regard to her company’s lawsuit, G.E.M. said in a new statement, “I am not in a position to make too many comments about the legal proceedings, but I can only say this for sure: In March 2014, a week before I was to compete in the finals for I Am a Singer <我是歌手>, Hummingbird Music’s CEO required me to sign the contract renewal, or I would not be allowed to compete in the finals. Furthermore, it is the other party who had violated the management contract first. The singing contract and the songwriting contract officially ended yesterday, because according to the contract terms, the renewal takes effect the day it was signed. The truth will come out soon.
“In short, I will continue to use G.E.M., the name that belongs to me. I will continue to sing my songs, and make my music. Gem Tang is still Gem Tang! I believe in justice, so I will face this with courage. See you in court!”
G.E.M.’s manager Tan Cheung (張丹) said, “We tried to settle this matter in a peaceful way and made concessions many times, but the other party continued to deliver ridiculous requests and made many wrong censures, ultimately dishonoring the contract by requesting a one-sided termination. The relationship we have developed over the past 12 years included not only partnership, but also that of siblings. I feel absolutely helpless and regretful that the relationship has come down to this. Pursuing legal action is the best way at this stage.”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
I was lucky enough to be at one of her recent concerts. In the corner of the TV screens that were there was the hummingbird company symbol. They’re making so much money off her, of course they don’t want her to leave.
To those in the audience, you can tell she loves her fans and is grateful that they’re supporting her during this lawsuit.
When the contract ends really depends on what was written in it. If it says it’s based on when it was signed then G. E. M is in the right, the other side even said a date wasn’t written down (I call bs).
In regards to rights to her stage name, what are they going to do with 鄧紫棋? Give it to someone else? People already know her by this name, you’ll just look like an a** for doing this.
She on the other hand has other options, she can go by her birth name, change characters that sound the exact same as 紫棋 etc
@tungamy She is extremely talented. Always wondered why she wasnt more famous but I think her style was a bit typically western which didnt ring with audiences.
I think the keeping name part is just another tool to keep her, they wont use it, but its her that will be stuck without her stage name.
I have never heard of a contact starting 3 years after signing. Thats obviously a ridiculous and greedy way of trying to keep someone bound.
@megamiaow I think it was both her style and also she wasn’t with one of the typical big recording companies. So it was harder to heavily promote her.
She’s been popular in HK, but it wasn’t until Singer that she really became known (population of HK vs. China). On the show she went from people saying “who’s this?” to “It’s GEM!”, I’m guessing that’s why Hummingbird wanted her to sign another contract before the finals because they knew she’ll get more jobs after.
If she gets to keep her stage name then great, if she can’t her fans won’t mind. We appreciate her music, so name doesn’t matter
If the singing or song writing contract was ending this month then why did GEM request for an early termination of her contract? There are obviously more legal stipulations that binds her to the company but she wants reasons to get out….
As the old Chinese saying goes, “turn the pig’s stomach over and see poop”.
While I sympathize with her situation, she should’ve seen it from miles away. Tan Cheung is an a** and will try his best to take her down on this sinking ship. He’ll have nothing without her so she has to suffer with him too.
I don’t see how this can be resolved amicably with how much money he’s asking unless another big Chinese company can buy her out of her contract or she pays what she’s earned.
Money is always the root of all evil. Good luck G.E.M, know that your fans are behind you. Focus on your work and let the court decide! Fight On!