I’m trying so hard not to dive into the pitfall of sensationalist media, but with this latest piece of news, it’s a little hard not to rage. Just a little.

For the past few months, JYJ has been working on the second installment of their 3HREE VOICES DVD series, and staff members from the project have been keeping fans updated on the trio’s latest happenings via an official blog. However, the staff members posted an entry today regarding JYJ’s old frenemy: Avex.

Avex is one of the largest record labels in Japan and was in charge of DBSK’s Japanese activities when they were still five. After JYJ broke off from DBSK and SM, Avex basically took the trio under its wing and let them do a summer arena tour, perform at their annual A-Nation concert, even sold silly fan paraphernalia under their name. But when JYJ signed with CJeS Entertainment, Avex cut off all ties from the trio (with CEO Max Matsuura posting emo tweets to compliment the affair). Since then, Avex has rekindled their relationship with SM and is now in charge of HoMin’s Japanese activities.

Recently, Avex seems to be getting worked up again, as just last month Avex announced that they would not allow JYJ’s “Memories in 2010” DVD to compete in the Oricon charts, despite the fact that the DVDs still sold like hotcakes. Citing the fact that merely ranking on the Oricon charts is a form of promotion, Avex declared that they would not allow an artist that was no longer under their label (JYJ) to be actively promoted. Meaning: Avex would still sell JYJ products, and still make money off of them, but would not allow JYJ’s name to gain any recognition in the process.

Today, the 3HREE VOICES staff members posted a blog entry regarding Avex’s latest actions against the group. The blog post has since been deleted, but some Japanese fans managed to save the blog entry. The full translation is posted below. Take a look for yourself.

[TRANS] JYJ’s 3HREE VOICES Staff Blog – We’re finally able to listen to them

The happy news that we’ve been waiting for
I want to let you know that it took a lot of efforts of many people in order for this charity concert to become true.

To tell you the truth, at first they were planning to have a concert in Tokyo Dome in May (T/N: this was planned before the Earthquake, so it wasn’t planned to be a charity concert). They believed that they would be able to sing in Tokyo. They wanted to tell their fans that JYJ is facing forward and they would be taking their fans with them to that future they were facing. They wanted to show their fans a level that was even higher than before, and they wanted to show you the sweats of their efforts… However, despite their efforts, suddenly they received the news that their performance in Tokyo would be canceled. Tokyo Dome received pressure from company A, and that was while we were filming for 3HREE VOICES2. I could imagine how shocked they could have been…

As you already knew, the company A that was JYJ’s management agency in Japan has one-sided stopped all of JYJ’s Japanese activities last September. Didn’t that mean they had abandoned JYJ’s management and by that, telling them to do what they wanted by themselves from now on?

At that time, they took action to help out Japan that was struck by the great earthquake. I was touched by their sincerity, and they gave me a lot of courage and love. I already wrote about this on my blog.
Such young people like them donated 600,000,000 won. To tell you the truth that wasn’t all. Someone close to them contacted me and told me that each of them wanted to contribute individually, so they wanted me to find out where and how they could contribute more. And that seemed to be a large amount of money too.
They are conveying their feelings to Japan, aren’t they. This is something that I witnessed and experienced myself.

Even so, they still can’t sing in Japan?
Is it THAT hard just to sing?
It’s not that they forgot how to sing, it’s that they weren’t allowed to sing… what a painful thing.

And then, there was a request from an authority personnel for them to perform at the charity event.
I could imagine how happy JYJ and C-Jes were.
They finally could sing in front of Japanese fans!
However, JYJ even made a request. Beside the expenses, they wanted to donate everything. They said that it was enough to be able to sing and to revive.

Then the announcement of the charity concert on 6/7 in Yokohama Arena was made on newspapers such as Daily News. However, as you already knew, the company A got involved in this once again. Not only did they bring down the news article, they also put pressure on Yokohama Arena.

If they were to give up on that charity concert, it means that they wouldn’t be able to send that donation money to the victims of the Earthquake. What is the benefit of disturbing a charity concert like this? Not being able to send out the donation money and causing the reconstruction after the earthquake to delay.

Then they thought of Saitama Super Arena. We asked them not to give in to the pressure by the company A. That is not only for JYJ’s sake but also for the sake of the reconstruction of the earthquake.

We must be successful with this charity concert.
If they were able to sing here, then there would be a possibility that they would be able to sing in Japan again. An unfinished contract with activities being suspended… in other words, they aren’t allowed to sing in Japan. Is that kind of oppression considered to be ok?
We would definitely not allow any kind of disturbance. This is the time that the fans should stand up.

I wrote that they would undoubtedly swim across the ocean (in order to sing). I also wrote that we must believe in them.

To them, it’s not a simple thing. There’s an invisible wall that’s trying to stop them. They are trying to overcome that obstacle. Let’s set up a ladder and welcome them back.
Someday, the day that everyone is able to freely listen to their performance will come. This is the very first step towards that day.
I also took a look at the comments you made. I can’t reply back to every single person, please don’t be offended by that.

T/N: The blog entry is now deleted. This translation is made thanks to the script that was saved by @onnellinen64.

Source: http://www.tweetdeck.com/twitter/onnellinen64/~WJodD
Translation: linhkawaii @ ONETVXQ.com

TL;DR:

  • Prior to the earthquake, JYJ was planning to have a concert at Tokyo Dome. “Company A” (presumably Avex) wormed their way in and pressured Tokyo Dome management to not let JYJ perform.
  • JYJ was then given the opportunity to do a charity concert to benefit the Japan earthquake relief efforts. This would be their first opportunity to sing in Japan since their departure from Avex. When presented with the offer, JYJ asked if all of the profits from the concert could be donated towards the earthquake relief efforts.
  • The charity concert was scheduled for June 7th at Yokohama Arena, and various news sources reported it as such. However, “Company A” not only put pressure on these news publications to pull the articles, but they also pressured Yokohama Arena management to, once again, disallow JYJ from performing.
  • As a last resort, JYJ has now settled for performing at Saitama Super Arena. God knows what’s going to happen there.

Like I said before, this information is coming from a source within the 3HREE VOICES staff, which is fairly close to JYJ themselves. I won’t deny that CJeS has thus far done a less-than-stellar job of managing JYJ’s activities, but seriously now? Cockblocking a charity event? I’m sorry, Avex, but there are just some things that aren’t worth this level of butthurtedness. Pick your battles wisely, Avex (and SM). Pick your battles wisely.

(trans. by linhkawaii at onetvxq; original source saved by onnellinen64.)