Gfriend fans point out how Le sserafim brings money losses to Source Music

lsrm has big upfront costs, will pay itself off prob this year

of course debut a new groups gonna cost a lot of money

Le sserafim is gonna print Source Music money so I don't see what the problem is here ...

their pre-order for the new album just surpasses 1M

blame Source Music and Hybe for Gfriend,but why feel mad at Les lol

lol i feel bad for Buddies but they obviously have no clue about how to run a business.

There is literally no buddy on this forum for OP to set them up like this. A new low.

can someone explain why does lsfm have more loss than profit? if they have good album sales

that's initial investment i guess + gfriend stopped activities. So that's double damage.

Quote from Slayurfaves

can someone explain why does lsfm have more loss than profit? if they have good album sales

Production n marketing costs and stuffs?

Since good sales don't always mean profit

Quote from desdesdes

Production n marketing costs and stuffs?

Since good sales don't always mean profit

I see maybe later they will start seeing the profits

Quote from Slayurfaves

I see maybe later they will start seeing the profits

Yes, because they are growing too.

Like some users said, the initial cost of debuting are indeed high, so it needs time.

That's why there are sooo many disbandment for nugu groups, since many of them are stagnant and don't have much growth (sometimes even a negative growth)

Quote from desdesdes

Production n marketing costs and stuffs?

Since good sales don't always mean profit

Sorry oot

Now this makes me appreciate new group more.

When their company manage to make more profit and with even less operating cost, wow

Quote from bbb988

The question is why would Hybe disband Gfriend? If Gfriend was the one making money then it makes no sense to disband Gfriend

lol wut? Do you see all the red in 2018, 2019, 2020? Gfriend was losing them money way before LSRFM was created.

Quote from BlackpinkHouse

lol wut? Do you see all the red in 2018, 2019, 2020? Gfriend was losing them money way before LSRFM was created.

Why are you falling for this disingenuous chuckleheads bait?

Loss isn't the only thing, unhinged buddies conveniently forgot to add the debts Source music owe Hybe and others from 2020 backward lol

HYBE releases the 2020 financial report for sublabels Pledis Entertainment and Source Music

Quote

On the other hand, Source Music has a debt of 12.9 billion KRW (11.45 million USD). Source Music also received a loan of 7.5 billion KRW (6.65 million USD) from Big Hit.

Quote from bbb988

The question is why would Hybe disband Gfriend? If Gfriend was the one making money then it makes no sense to disband Gfriend

damn you really can't read yet

with kpop albums being at record low prices, even big sales aren't brining in profit.

Tours seem to have become the sole money making scheme in kpop

Only 4 million loss in 2022?

Lol, wait for them to start touring in Japan. They will recover this in a week

Quote from bbb988

If Hybe just leaves Source alone, Source would still be making profit since their investment in Gfriend is less

this is essentially just fortune telling now

Iirc last gfriend album sold 90k-ish copies and le sserafim has just reached 1m preorders. Nobody in their right mind would disband a group that brings them money

Quote from bbb988

The question is why would Hybe disband Gfriend? If Gfriend was the one making money then it makes no sense to disband Gfriend

If you look at the numbers, 2020 and 2021 they lose $1.5-1.7 million. LSF did not debut until 2022. Which means GFriend was unfortunately losing ~$1.5 million per year.

LSF as soon has they hold 2 big concerts, and they will have many big concerts, will recoup the $5 million loss.

GFriend fans should stop blaming Source Music and accept that the girls did not want to continue as a group, because they were no longer making money. The loses would have been far less if not for COVID, but natural disasters happen.

Quote from Lulu_Key

with kpop albums being at record low prices, even big sales aren't brining in profit.

Tours seem to have become the sole money making scheme in kpop

That is true

Without tours the album sales just fade away

We need the full report

I can still get annoyed at all the disingenous closet haters and other-group stans and HYBE/SM defenders with their gaslighting narratives, saying that GFriend themselves wanted to leave when all the signs were saying otherwise, and as soon as it became 100% clear that it wasn't GFriend but HYBE/SM that were the cause for the disbandment, they STILL defend the company and push the group under the bus claiming 'well, what did you expect? They don't make money' - as if the same people hadn't said just before that, that it was GFriend's own choice

I mean, how much of a company stan or how shady can you get?

Quote from doesitneedsaying

Iirc last gfriend album sold 90k-ish copies and le sserafim has just reached 1m preorders. Nobody in their right mind would disband a group that brings them money

That's not really a fair comparison, in the past couple of years album sales (not sure about album revenues though) have multiplied 3-5 fold, if not more.

Sure, it's probably true that with a newer/younger/fresher group you might still be able to have the higher sales.

But if GFriend had been given the chance to continue, with the proper, serious promotion chances are high they'd have seen a significant increase in their album sales as well - just as all the other 3rd gen groups experienced, comparing their 2019-2020 album sales with their sales the past year.

WOW

If $4.8 million net losses despite LSFM selling more than million albums in 2022 plus other profits, it is safe to say they spent at least 10 million on them. Crazy. JYP doesn't even spend 1 million I think

Quote from FoReveries

That's not really a fair comparison, in the past couple of years album sales (not sure about album revenues though) have multiplied 3-5 fold, if not more.

Sure, it's probably true that with a newer/younger/fresher group you might still be able to have the higher sales.

But if GFriend had been given the chance to continue, with the proper, serious promotion chances are high they'd have seen a significant increase in their album sales as well - just as all the other 3rd gen groups experienced, comparing their 2019-2020 album sales with their sales the past year.

I wasn't comparing 2020 with 2022 or 2023 numbers. They sold up to 90k album in 2020, and in 2020 izone sold over 500k and mamamoo over 300k.

Better promo might have worked and might have not. New kpop fans are more interested in new groups, they want to follow their journey from the start. hybe knew this which is why it disbanded them

Quote from doesitneedsaying

I wasn't comparing 2020 with 2022 or 2023 numbers. They sold up to 90k album in 2020, and in 2020 izone sold over 500k and mamamoo over 300k.

Better promo might have worked and might have not. New kpop fans are more interested in new groups, they want to follow their journey from the start. hybe knew this which is why it disbanded them

When I check the sales per album, the gap isn't that big: Mamamoo still had a 75k and 124k Korean sales top in 2019 and 174k in 2020, compared with GFriend's Korean sales per album of 82k and 90k in 2019 and 2020.

But that's not even the point: most groups experienced a 3-5 multiplier in sales since 2020, GFriend could have had the same.

What happened to GFriend is what you see in a lot of corporate takeovers: the firm that's been taken over gets 1-2 years to prove their profits, and if the mother company thinks profit isn't satisfactory, heads start to roll.

However, there are other K-pop companies that didn't scrap their groups after a disappointing comeback or disappointing sales, and that perseverance got rewarded with those groups flourishing after a while and making a profit.

It's the narrative that GFriend disbanding was 100% unavoidable and that they'd never have been able to recover or make a profit in future years anymore that I find questionable and false, at least to me.

Quote from BlackpinkHouse

lol wut? Do you see all the red in 2018, 2019, 2020? Gfriend was losing them money way before LSRFM was created.

I remember how everyone was talking about how GFriend was dropping in the ranking of biggest girl groups for years.

If I remember sales were still okay, but it wasn't like they were at the top of their game anymore

Quote from Daisy_Queen

I can't imagine kpop albums generate a lot of revenue with how much goes into making them

well, it's that, merch (!!!) and touring. Streams pay slightly more than busking on the street

Quote from FoReveries

When I check the sales per album, the gap isn't that big: Mamamoo still had a 75k and 124k Korean sales top in 2019 and 174k in 2020, compared with GFriend's Korean sales per album of 82k and 90k in 2019 and 2020.

But that's not even the point: most groups experienced a 3-5 multiplier in sales since 2020, GFriend could have had the same.

What happened to GFriend is what you see in a lot of corporate takeovers: the firm that's been taken over gets 1-2 years to prove their profits, and if the mother company thinks profit isn't satisfactory, heads start to roll.

However, there are other K-pop companies that didn't scrap their groups after a disappointing comeback or disappointing sales, and that perseverance got rewarded with those groups flourishing after a while and making a profit.

It's the narrative that GFriend disbanding was 100% unavoidable and that they'd never have been able to recover or make a profit in future years anymore that I find questionable and false, at least to me.

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cr to OP

If you total the losses in 2018 + 2019 + 2020 + 2021 that is a loss of $4.14 million. This means GFriend have to make this back in profit (revenue - expenses) before they get a cent again. So if they continue, they will be working for the next couple of years without pay, then maybe if and when they can get more than $4 million+ in profits, they will get paid. They made $1.16 million profit in 2016, so maybe in 3.5 years they the recoup the losses and get paid.

Source is responsible for not keeping them at the top after their massive initial success, but no one is going to work 3+ years without pay.

They will eventually make more money, if they haven’t already.

Quote from Daisy_Queen

Do album sales really mean as much to kpop acts as they do the rest of the world? I remember reading SM say groups had to sell upwards of 500k to make significant profit, and that was when albums looked nothing like they do now

considering it's assumed that every significant group is easily clearing 500k, it think its worth it. Better than making your album digital only, and racking up costs of production and promotion just to not make it back with digitals. Plus fans hate non-physical releases and will probably be driven away

Karma for stealing "reggaeton" from us. No usen nuestros sonidos

Quote from FoReveries

It's the narrative that GFriend disbanding was 100% unavoidable and that they'd never have been able to recover or make a profit in future years anymore that I find questionable and false, at least to me.

I’m sorry but I’m blaming Buddies and Koreans for leaving Mago in the dust. It was a perfect song, and they were promoted so well, with special stages and everything!! I was streaming and even able to get my non kpop sister to stream by making her lil kid hooked on Mago. But how did it do on the charts? It was such a catchy and great song, and even now still hasn’t reached 100M streams on Spotify . I’m not even a buddy but I really enjoyed Gfriend’s vocals especially Yuju’s.

I think SM had done a great job with Walpurgis Night. The witch concept was intriguing and the styling of the girls were beautiful. I have no idea why their fandom didn’t push hard at that time. Such as wasted opportunity