I'm pretty sure some of you might be like, 'Oh come on, the merger's old news. Build a bridge and get over it.' and honestly, I really did think that I was over the entire issue and the big hoohah that ensued because of the merger since, well, the huge fuss would die down, and people would move on with their lives anyway. But it seems that there have been new advancements to this issue and I just thought, I don't know, that I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the issue.

First things first. For some who don't really comprehend what this crazy is ranting about, basically about ten/eleven days ago, SM C&C has announced a merger with Woollim Entertainment (where INFINITE, Tasty and Nell is under) to form Woollim Label which was, in their words, an "independent" label. And generally, the response from the public (as well as Inspirits) seemed ot be pretty negative and they mainly opposed to the merger, which has led to INFINITE shedding tears at their One Great Step concert in Seoul as they brought the issue up and clarified certain misunderstandings.

So, you might be thinking, what's the issue here? Honestly, I'm not sure if it might be a misunderstanding on my part, or does the word "independent" mean that Woollim artists wouldn't be participating in any SM Town related activities? That was what I'd initially assumed, and that was one of the reasons why I let the issue pass without kicking up that big a fuss over it. But I was apparently mistaken, because it seems that Woollim artists would now be joining the rest of the SM Town family on SM Town Live Word Tours, with the exception of INFINITE as they are busy with their own OGS World Tour.

In all honest opinion, I have always been against the merger with SM. Partially because I feel that SM is trying to expand their stronghold on the music industry. Like, on top of having EXO, DBSK, SuJu, SNSD, SHINee and f(x) on their roster they now have INFINITE on the list too, meaning that they have greater control over broadcast stations who don't want to be blacklisted by SM and thus lose the opportunity of casting SM artists on their shows (Recall the SM/MNet fight that lasted for a whole 4 years).

And I really don't like this fact that SM is trying to monopolise everything. It's as though they're doing all they can to, when put crudely, make all the broadcast stations act like their es who attend to their every beck and call. As if I'm not sore enough over the whole SM/JYJ saga. I don't want SM to be meddling with broadcasting stations again. They're behaving like big bullies at a playground (just because they have all the A-list artists under them) and trying to get everyone to conform to their overbearing ways. Me no like, psh :/

I used to be a huge SM stan when I first got into K-Pop four years ago (because really, just about everyone starts off as an SM stan before branching out into other fandoms) but as the years went by I realised just how much I disliked SM's brutish and barbaric manner of handling issues and inevitably, my interest in SM artists (even though they're completely innocent in this) faded as a result. Proud to say that I'm an Inspirit now! ^^ Which is the main reasion why I've gotten this riled up over the merger issue.

So after reading my long- rant on nothing significant again, I just want to know your honest opinions on this issue!

Do let me know what you think of the merger by dropping a comment below or, if you wish to remain anonymous (though I cannot fathom why; I will not hunt you down and stalk you while you sleep) you can answer through the poll below :)