President of Young Tak's label Milagro admits to chart manipulation

President of Milagro Entertainment admits to committing "sajaegi" (Image via Twitter/zerotakofficial)

South Korean trot singer Young Tak is in hot water after his agency, Milagro, admitted to manipulating music charts in 2019 in order to boost the artist's song.

Milagro's president Lee Jae Kyu called for a press release where he admitted to using illegal methods to make the song perform better on charts. He asked for forgiveness and centered the blame on himself, stating that it was done by "me and me alone."

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President of Milagro says Young Tak did not know about him committing sajaegi

On November 4, 2021, the president of Milagro Entertainment admitted to committing sajaegi in 2019 in order to promote Young Tak's song, Why Are You Coming Out From There.

Sajaegi is a Korean word meaning illegal bulk-buying. With reference to the K-pop community, it means the act of chart manipulation, such as companies using bots to stream their own artist's music.

In South Korea, rankings on music charts are extremely important for artists. It not only helps with their popularity, but good chart scores are essential to score wins on music shows. Music shows such as SBS' Inkigayo, The Show, and MBC's Show Champion amongst many others use "digital sales" as one of the factors to calculate an artist's score during their daily award ceremony.

Milagro's president, Lee Jae Kyu, stated that he committed sajaegi as he wanted to aid Young Tak's career. Feeling for the artist's lack of wide-spread recognition, the president thought sajaegi would help propel his name into the limelight.

Jae Kyu apologized for committing the act, and emphasized that Young Tak had no idea about his actions and that he was the only one involved.

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Who is Young Tak?

Young Tak, or Park Young Tak is a 38-year-old South Korean trot singer. He started singing professionally as early as 2004 when he lent his voice to an OST for the Korean movie Marrying the Mafia II.

He signed to Milagro Entertainment in 2016, which is when he adopted the stage name Young Tak. He and his CEO supposedly maintained a close bond, with Jae Kyu helping him write his debut Trot song Nuna You're Perfect.

In 2018, Young Tak released his hit single Why Are You Coming Out From There, which he helped write and produce. The song went viral in the country through TikTok. It eventually helped the singer score several television opportunities and he grew to become the well-known trot artist he is today.