Judging from the 42 million views racked up on the day of its release, Cai Xukun’s online concert entitled Phenomenon held last February 26 appears to be a big success. Unfortunately however, that achievement was marred by the recent accusations of plagiarism. On February 28, an American artist using the handle @Stuz0r took to social media to raise his concerns. “I don’t know who Cai Xukun is, but please don’t be like that…” Accompanying his post was a side by side comparison of the singer’s online stage which at one glance, is practically the same to the artist’s own work.
Beijing Jingzhi Media Steps Up to be Accountable
As the issue gained more traction online, Beijing Jingzhi Media, the post-production company hired to create the background has already stepped forward to take responsibility. In their statement, they said because the visual director was inexperienced when it comes to buying NFTs, he made a mistake. Admitting to have lied that the background stage design was an original work, the visual director said as the one accountable, he has already contact the original creator and collector to apologise and to complete the process of authorizing the use of the NFT from its current owner under the guidance of professionals. The statement also extended an apology not just to the original creator of the design and its current owner, but also to Cai Xukun and his team who were impacted by his mistake.
The statement was also corroborated by design’s original artist who confirmed on Twitter on March 2 that the issue is with Beijing Jingzhi Media and “not the artist Cai Xukun, that was responsible.” Moreover, he also confirmed that the two parties are currently in talks to resolve the problem.
Meanwhile, Cai Xukun Studio also issued a statement which included an apology to the original artist, collectors and to fans. They said that after discovering the problem, they urged Beijing Jingzhi Media to properly handle the resolution of the copyright issue as soon as possible. They also said they will be holding accountable the post-production team to whom the work was outsourced to.
Photos: Cai Xukun Studio / Weibo
