How is SM still surviving? Realistically

rv, nct 127, nct dream, aespa, exo, baekhyun, nct , all sell above 1 million

they tour

i think it was 2020 or 2021 where the nct units sold a collective of 11 million albums

Touring and cfs

Albums and touring off set most costs put into creating songs and MVs. Digital charts don't bring much in, they're more for gaining the public's appreciation which in turn leads to projects like CFs, dramas, TV etc of which SM gets a share of.

Quote from bangmenah

This isn’t really shade to any of the groups, instead the company. I should add this: they also, ESPECIALLY for Red Velvet and NCT, choose the second or third best track as Title?? Why is that!!!!

idk about that

i also didn't become an nct 127 stan by listening to their title tracks it was their bsides that got to me

Red Velvet had a hit every year since 2016 except in 2020 when they did not make a group comeback and Psycho counts for 2019 and 2020.

SM are certainly not making most of their money from their groups digital performances anyways. They have always been focused on building huge and stable fanbases.

127 and Dream sell 2M+ albums every comeback.

EXO, RV, and Aespa sell 1M+ albums every comeback.

SUJU, Shinee, Taeyeon, and every soloist all sell 100-500k per comeback.

Someone said they sold 11M albums in one year, that amounts to 150 million USD for one year on gross album sales alone. Then you have concert revenue, merch, CFs, variety show gigs, streaming and downloads...

I mean companies and their artists can’t survive on hit songs alone lol, just ask sistar. You need a fandom to sell albums, merch, tour tickets - that’s where the bulk of their income comes in. And sm does not lack that whatsoever, so obviously they can still operate for a long time without a huge hit song or a top top act. Hit songs might help build a fandom but it’s not always a guarantee, and you don’t need hit songs to still operate if you have a steady stream of income elsewhere.

Quote from bangmenah

When was the last time an SM group released a banger?

Bye Bye by Red Velvet (ignoring the title track) at least we still have RV is make good music for us

They do release bangers sometimes right when you don’t expect it (red velvet and Aespa) but I can’t really depend on it cause it can also end up being a song that I hate

What the other said but most importantly what insane budget? Are we seeing the same MVs?

Except few NCT Dream titles and INVU (it looked great), every MV from 2021 till now has been in a box.

They're not the fine company they were when I first got into K pop in 2011. They had so many top groups in the second gen and they were putting out fine songs, now they're being taken over by companies with more dominant groups and their music has declined. It's sad in a way but it was bound to happen I guess.

sell albums

tour

cfs

merch...