When a song by an unfamiliar artist tops music charts, beating out top bands with megasized fandoms, rather than herald a new star people now often wonder if “sajaegi,” or manipulation of music charts and streaming counts, is at work.

Such suspicion seems justified in light of recent developments.

On Thursday, Trot singer Young Tak’s agency Milagro said in an official press statement that the company was involved in sajaegi, becoming the first agency to admit to the long-rumored suspicion.

Lee Jae-kyu, head of Milagro, was accused of asking a marketing company to continuously stream Young Tak’s song, “Why Are You Coming Out From There,” on numerous PCs with the aim of increasing the number of streams. The song was released in 2019. An investigation is underway on how the scheme was carried out.

“I admit to all allegations against me and I deeply regret my actions,” said Lee in a press release on Thursday.

Lee insisted that Young Tak was not informed of anything related to the matter. He apologized for causing trouble to the artist who came to fame through an audition program.

Local press outlets have reported various speculations that the artist was aware of the chart manipulation, but Young Tak uploaded a post on his fan-based website Monday saying that he has “already been investigated and found innocent.”

Although rumors of manipulation in the music industry have been around for quite some time, Milagro is the first agency to admit to it.

Four K-pop powerhouses -- S.M., YG, JYP and Star Empire Entertainment -- came together to report manipulation of music charts to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office in 2013. However, the four insisted they had never hired companies to manipulate the charts themselves, combating allegations of artificially raising the streaming and download records of songs to push them up local music charts.

Though the big names agreed that music chart manipulation is not a secret in the local music industry, the issue has not been easy to pursue due to a lack of evidence.

Suspicions were fueled again in 2019 by Park Kyung, a music producer and member of K-pop boy band Block B, who named a number of musicians he thought were involved in illegal chart manipulation. The artist was accused of defamation and the case has been referred to the prosecution.

While the investigation into chart manipulation involving Lee, head of Milagro, is underway, industry insiders offered differing views on the matter.

“I remember some streaming platforms removed the real-time chart, when sajaegi controversy erupted in May 2020. But it has been replaced with the top 100 chart, which serves the same purpose, analyzing and showing the daily music trends,” said a music insider. “I think this still poses a similar threat and temptation for both the artists and the agencies to make their songs popular and create profit.”

Kang Tae-gyu, a local music critic, said the charts system is not solely responsible for the growing issue of manipulation.

“Local streaming platforms have been making efforts to monitor any unnatural rise in the streaming of songs and albums. I agree that viral marketing by companies enables a short-term rise in the charts, but securing the top spots in an online chart requires the power of music,” Kang added.

“I am not defending the issue surrounding sajaegi, but I don’t think simply removing the chart system will solve the problem. Fundamental solutions and efforts to tackle the problem are required, such as analyzing if a song is streamed infinitely with multiple accounts owned by one individual.”

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)