The fee for appearing in popular YT channels for kpop artists has soared to tens of millions, small and medium labels can't afford

That's scummy and they're gonna cost themselves idols and their audiences at this rate. As with everything, people will turn on them.

its getting harder and harder for small to medium sized company groups

Social media, in initial years was affordable to all, because the intention was not profit, but to build following/user base, similar to e-commerce and apps.

Most of them were not at all profitable and burning cash like there was no tomorrow, with insane valuations.

But those days are done - now monetizing is everything and obviously people don't have the time/energy to follow ever growing number of channels.

So the importance of successful "curators" i.e. hosts/shows and they are becoming arbitrators like broadcasts were-are.

BTS was lucky that they got their window right, in many ways. But then Fortuna Fortis Adiuvat.

Even better is IU, she not only got a popular channel for herself - which many others do, but by hosting a show which can pull the likes of Gong Yoo, J-Hope, Jay Park, Song Kang Ho..

If she starts being more regular with Palette, she would be a powerhouse in that segment as well.

I wish I could be a popular YouTuber. I’d invite all sorts of idols all of the time, but especially medium and small sized ones. It would be so fun to get to know them and have fun. I’d ask them when they want the video released and set it on YouTube to automatically release on that time so I don’t even have to remember. It could all be for really cheap too, and I could make it a full time job practically.

Quote from tetetete

Internet was supposed to level the ground for small and medium label artists

That is as impossible as "Liberal democracy was supposed to level the ground for all" .

"Absolute Equality" is an illusion - whenever an "inequality" is attacked, it simply moves to another place, another manner, another people.

It is like playing Whack-a-mole.

That is also why Communism/Socialism etc., taken too far, end up being disasters.

Social media disrupted Broadcast media - to give new players opportunities, but now that it is settling into its hierarchy, the next disruption is need for others to rise.

At least these days compared history, the disruptions are happening faster. The disruption of broadcast-visual media by digital-SM has happened faster than, broadcast disrupting print media.

I wonder what the next disruption would be?

AI is of course, many are trying.

But I wonder, how about groups including fans in the creative process, fans as co-producers - not just in selection of members, or crowd funding - but even voting on a selection of themes, samples, guide tracks, costumes, settings etc.,

The more engaged the fan, more their stickiness and spend.

Now I know why Kpop idols are appearing on these YT Kpop reactors channels. I don’t think these YT channels charge a fee though. US YT creators don’t generally charge a fee because they focus more on content with guests that will bring in views. I also doubt Korean celebrity YT channels charge a fee. I just don’t see IU, Gym Jungkook, Rain, or Solarsido charging fees. Even Zico, I don’t see charging a fee. So what kind of channels do this then?

Small and medium size companies have a lot to overcome and that is why what BTS achieved is so unprecedented. In hindsight I can still appreciate that Big Hit treated the members well and be grateful that they didn’t mentally or physically abuse the member because it can happen in companies that size.

So they became same as broadcasting channels.

No point for small groups

Although I'm pretty sure KKB gets paid to go to these places. If not by the channel by the brands he promotes. Thats why he always take out his bb cream to touch up lmao

Quote from YouChanDoThis

I wish I could be a popular YouTuber. I’d invite all sorts of idols all of the time, but especially medium and small sized ones. It would be so fun to get to know them and have fun. I’d ask them when they want the video released and set it on YouTube to automatically release on that time so I don’t even have to remember. It could all be for really cheap too, and I could make it a full time job practically.

please do.

I found WJSN through a channel which cover topic of good songs only regardless their popularity, and many of it are nugus in popularity. It feels like I found a gem. My bg songs are also originated from there.

Quote from tetetete

The article mentions broadcasting channel's online vertical so shows like studio choom, there's something like studio live where kpop stars are supposed to sing live with a live band, variety stuff like Lee youngji show, kids show like odg and plenty more

Article also mentions that its only lesser known artists which are charged a fee probably because it is known they won't bring much traffic to the show

So free for big names, charging for small groups?

That's unfair

Do they aesst share the revenue with the smaller groups if things go viral?

Pretty sure they're talking about tens of millions of Korean won as the price that must be paid by these smaller agencies. Cause no way in hell can any label afford to pay 10 million+ USD for one promotional appearance on a YT channel. That's like the entire annual marketing budget for all of these small to mid labels, heck that's probably like the lifetime marketing budget for one of these nugu to midsized groups.

interesting

BTS and Bighit were lucky but it’s not just luck. They think outside the box and find their own way. BTS didn’t use any major YouTube channel at that time, they made their own Bangtantv. And they were active on social media with their own contents. It’s interesting to note that at that time, other groups can do the same thing too but many was following the same established route - tv, popular broadcasts etc. So it’s not just luck, you need bravery (to go against the normal way), tenacity (keep doing it and improving until you get it right), team work (the members and the fandom work together to promote via grassroot movement), and trust the process..

So for a new group to breakthrough they might have to find their own way, need to think outside the box too.