The latest storm brewing in the Korean entertainment industry involves the rising power rooking girl group, FIFTY FIFTY.

Recently, the girl group's soaring popularity has been overshadowed by a contentious dispute regarding their exclusive contracts, the allegation that another agency is trying to poach the group, and the various lawsuits that were begotten through the disputes.

FIFTY FIFTY achieved an extraordinary ascent to stardom propelled by their sensational hit, "Cupid." This infectious track swiftly gained viral momentum on social media platforms, catapulting the group's popularity to unprecedented heights. Astonishingly, despite their recent debut just seven months ago, FIFTY FIFTY's "Cupid" defied all expectations and secured a coveted spot on the prestigious Billboard HOT100 chart.

Now, there are claims that the agency had invested heavily to make the track go viral on social media.

It was recently revealed that ATTRAKT's CEO had initially invested 8 billion KRW (~6.1 million USD) to kickstart the girl group's journey. This revelation has sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a substantial sum of money was allocated and utilized within the group's endeavors. Attention is now fixated on piecing together the particulars of where this sizable investment was used.

According to music industry insiders, it is known that the initial investment of 8 billion KRW was used for outsourcing music production, and a large portion of that money was used to make FIFTY FIFTY's track go viral on TikTok.

Twitter user Havaqquq-303, a member of the underground Korean media company Young Gifted & Wack, recently shared an intriguing email that they obtained. No information was given on where and how the email was obtained, but the email allegedly sheds light on some of the inner workings of the music industry, specifically regarding promotional and advertising fees aimed at generating viral traction for a song.

The alleged screenshot of email that the Twitter user attached included promotional content that explains that if a content creator uses a specific track in their YouTube shorts, the YouTuber would be paid a cooperation fee. The email was directed to a content creator stating, "Currently, our company is holding a YouTube Shorts sound source promotion. We are inquiring if you, XXX, can participate this time. If you use our company's sound sources (from 100 BGM songs) in YouTube Shorts, we will pay you a promotion cooperation fee according to the number of postings. As of now, dozens of YouTubers are joining and earning a steady income of 1.5 million to 6 million KRW (1,138 to 4,555 USD) per month."

Havaqquq-303's tweets suggest that ATTRAKT had deployed a good portion of their resources to boost the popularity of "Cupid" on TikTok, allegedly by compensating TikTok creators to incorporate the song into their content. The recent disclosure that FIFTY FIFTY's "Cupid" may not have gone viral organically has ignited a divide among Korean online communities. While some netizens are disappointed, some netizens are not surprised.

Netizens commented, "Almost all artists now pay to promote their track in some way," "What, this feels like the first time I found out about the 'backdoor' advertisement deals that YouTubers got," "I already expected them to use some money into promoting the song," "I guess anything is possible if you put in the money now," "But then even if you pay, the song has to actually be good to ride on that virality," "I see that sometimes those dance challenges also are paid," and "Wow, they invested 8 billion KRW just to have that song go viral."