Company Profile
Seven Seasons was founded and established by Kim Gyu-wook in 2013. It was originally created for Block B as a result of their lawsuit with their former agency, Stardom Entertainment, which resulted in the group’s departure from the agency. In June, 2016, it was announced that Seven Seasons became a subsidiary under KQ Entertainment, but its function to be solely dedicated to Block B remained the same. However, recently, Seven Seasons has received a lot backlash, especially from Block B fans, due to their controversies with the group.
Block B and Seven Seasons
On August 29, 2013, Seven Seasons reported through a press release that Block B had left Stardom Entertainment and all of its members’ contracts had been transferred to another company. They also revealed that the result of the negotiations between the Block B members and their former company had met both’s satisfaction. In addition, Seven Seasons thanked Block B fans for loyally waiting and also going through the difficulties along with the group. They said that they would do their best to ensure that Block B would come back to music scene again. Later, a news outlet, OSEN, revealed that Seven Seasons was created specifically for Block B and the company’s name reflected the seven members of the group. Block B made their first official comeback after joining the new agency on October 2, 2013, with the mini-album Very Good, after dropping a pre-release single, “Be The Light”, on September 22. They then continued to release digital singles and albums.
Controversies
After signing with the new agency, it appears that Block B still had many difficulties under the new agency. Seeing them like that, BBC (Block B fans) didn’t just stand still, and took further action to defend the idol group. On September 24, 2016, it was reported that BBC began to boycott Seven Seasons due to their mistreatment and neglect to the group. The BBC administrators even asked the members of the fandom to refrain from buying the latest DVD, Blooming Period Production Note, that was released by the agency at the time. If they had purchased it and it hadn’t been shipped yet, the fans were asked to cancel and ask for a refund. They had reached that point because they thought the agency had done many bad things, including mistreatment and neglect of the group. The fandom administrators posted 20 specific reasons why they went that far, in the popular South Korean online community, Instiz, titled “Seven Seasons’ Barbaric Action”. As translated by Koreaboo, here are the 20 reasons:
Block B’s Future
On November 23, 2018, it was reported that Zico’s contract had ended and he chose to part ways with the agency and Block B, itself, in order to establish a one-man agency and return as solo artist the next year. In response to the report, Seven Seasons released an official statement regarding Zico’s contract. They confirmed about Zico’s departure from the agency but issued a denial about him leaving Block B. They clarified that the direction of Block B as seven-member group had not been decided and that they still in discussion with all the members. In addition, the agency revealed that the other six members of the group had renewed their contracts with the agency. They concluded by expressing gratitude towards Zico as Block B’s leader and producer, and wishing him the best for his future.
