Kpop fans have no idea how much money idols make, lets just agree on that

Its just that a lot of boy groups suck digitally so bg fans like to pretend digital performance is irrelevant and only album sales/ touring matters cos their favs are zero in everything else

Fifty Fifty did not only do well on Spotify. They did extremely well on Youtube as well. Most of their views just were not for the music video, but other audio track videos. Cupid got over 40M views weekly on YT music for multiple weeks

Well, I've heard that for touring it's 70/30 btw Artists/YG. If it's so how much do you think Blackpink girlies get from their "Born Pink world tour" alone, plus merch?

We say it's $250M left after all the expenses. 70% is $175M then divided by 4.... They made like $40M each for the touring alone?

Screenshot_20231120_082316.jpg

It depends on too many factors.

Dasom getting 1,5m for her solo acting isnt surprising to me, Sistar may have not had any strength in physicals but each member was very popular during that time. There's also a rumor that have been going around forever that Starship is the company that pays the highest amount in porcentage of profit to idols. Probably why Wonyoung is there and not in another company. If it was another company who knows how much money would be taken from Dasom's deal? That's why a lot of factors influence on the amount of money idols make. Popularity, company contract, solo gigs, royalties, etc.

I thought It was well stabilized digital itself doesn't bring that much money, especially when the idols don't have royalties as a songwriter. But they can earn well from schedules and individual popularity built from such success.

For example, Mimi from Oh My Girl said It happened:

Quote

Mimi said she started earning profits only recently, after eight years of being active. During all these years, she claimed that her earnings were in the minus. When Tak Jae Hoon asked how members from the same group could have such a big difference in wages, Mimi said it’s because their individual schedules are not always the same.

She only started to see real in coming after raising her Youtube Channel without having to share profits with the agency. But of course, her channel was only able to become known, cause she is a member of a successful girlgroup.

but Sistar is invited to a lot of shows because their songs are big hits.

but you can bought a building with a loan.
i remember there's a scandal an actor (iirc) bought a building with 90% of it as a loan and sell it later as double the price.

you forgot sistar do alot of event. event do pays alot.

Quote from Stella24k

Well, I've heard that for touring it's 70/30 btw Artists/YG. If it's so how much do you think Blackpink girlies get from their "Born Pink world tour" alone, plus merch?

We say it's $250M left after all the expenses. 70% is $175M then divided by 4.... They made like $40M each for the touring alone?

Screenshot_20231120_082316.jpg

Who paid for the costs? YG or BP?

And where did you get the 70/30 numbers?

No one knows how much idols earn and that's a fact except the people who have access to their contract details.

People only guess using the real estate they purchase and the cars they own.

Quote from Stella24k

Well, I've heard that for touring it's 70/30 btw Artists/YG. If it's so how much do you think Blackpink girlies get from their "Born Pink world tour" alone, plus merch?

We say it's $250M left after all the expenses. 70% is $175M then divided by 4.... They made like $40M each for the touring alone?

Screenshot_20231120_082316.jpg

Do you think it's free to tour? They have to pay for stuff my guy. BP is not getting the entire 175 million dollars

couple problems with your theory bud

1) Loans exist so it's not entirely impossible she didn't take out some amount to get that.

2) Sistar was a veery popular group even in just Korea they probably had loads of CF deals and their singles did generate a lot of money. Plus you would think they have some financial advisors that gave they financial advice.

3) Most idols are not Sistar, or BTS, or BP, or Twice. Most idols probably make not much.

Quote from Teudungi21

Most idols probably make not much.

Indeed. I remember someone posting an article stating that the average pay for idols was something around $40,000.

On a related note, we have to be careful about using real estate purchases to estimate someone's wealth. An idol could have money stemming from sources completely unrelated to their idol work. For example, they could come from a rich family, or they could have invested their money extremely well and made a high return.

We do actually know pretty much exactly how much one idol brought in a year. There is a fisical report from IUs agency EDAM (Which only had IU at the time) thats public.

Thread

Finally some hard numbers for physical sales vs digital sales

Here is a breakdown of EDAM Ent's 2021 revenue as reported by The Official Audit Report of 2021 Agency Income. IU was the only artist under EDAM for this report (EDAM signed Shin Sekyung in the 3rd quarter of 2021).

IU's 2021 REVENUE
Album sales: 4.1 billion won
Music (digital) sales: 9.6 billion won
Merch: 3.2 billion won
CFs: 11.7 billion won

This means IU generated 29.5 billion won (~23 million usd) for her agency last year. We don't know what her cut of this revenue is, though she owns 30% of…

pchromo4

Apr 28th 2022

Granted, she's pretty much an exception to most and majority of it comes from korea alone (at least digitals and cfs) and likely has one of the best split shares in the industry (on top of that she owned 30% of edam at the time)

EDAM(IU's) 2021 REVENUE (around $22-23m total)

Album sales: 4.1 billion won ($3,18m)

Music (digital) sales: 9.6 billion won ($7,45m)

Merch: 3.2 billion won ($2,48m)

CFs: 11.7 billion won ($9,07m)

(No concerts in 2021 because of corona)

So, for the biggest digital artist in korea (6,2 billion digital points in gaon/circle in 2021) revenue made from digitals was more than double the amount made from around 400k physical albums sold in 2021, but still about 2m usd less than CF deals.

Quote from Stella24k

Well, I've heard that for touring it's 70/30 btw Artists/YG. If it's so how much do you think Blackpink girlies get from their "Born Pink world tour" alone, plus merch?

We say it's $250M left after all the expenses. 70% is $175M then divided by 4.... They made like $40M each for the touring alone?

Screenshot_20231120_082316.jpg

Takeway for YG is probably way less after all the expensens and concert organizers have taken their share. Then YG would take their cut, rights holders theirs and taxes on to that etc

But. But.. But... I saw it on X

The best we can do is estimate how much revenue they made. Without their contracts it's impossible to know what fraction of that they kept. And don't give me that sourceless table from 10 years ago as the truth.

And not people believing that tweet that says that YouTube Music Korea pays 1000x of what Melon pays per stream without questioning it themselves.

Quote from Dreamer95

Bro, the amount of mental gymnastics you did with this, 3 to be exact, simply to avoid accepting that maybe, perhaps digitals do pay nicely

If her family was rich why would she even buy a building or why wouldn't she buy it earlier? It's obvious that's her own earned money after 4 years in industry.

How is it mental gymnastics? You think all idols get paid a shit ton? Digitals only pay out nicely if you get millions of streams otherwise it isnt that much of a pay out. This is literally true of all streaming services. The popular ones are making a lot of money and everyone else is making shit. I wouldn't base how much idols make from a member of Sistar as Sistar is an extremely popular group at its Height. Also CF deals make a lot of money. She probably made more off that.

You seem to think Sistar is a good representative of your average idol income which is...... hilarious and very wishful thinking.

Digitals don't make money. Dasom money came mostly from acting gigs and CFs

I also seem this Dasom mansion coming back to this discussion from time to time, generally to counter the argument and somehow prove that digitals pays any money

There is several questions to ask here. Is it her only asset? Have her bought with cash? Is she still paying for it?

I don't think her buying a home any upper middle class american can also buy (granted, in a 20 years invesment) is a particular strong evidence of wealthy

Quote from Kreatin

EDAM(IU's) 2021 REVENUE (around $22-23m total)

Album sales: 4.1 billion won ($3,18m)

Music (digital) sales: 9.6 billion won ($7,45m)

Merch: 3.2 billion won ($2,48m)

CFs: 11.7 billion won ($9,07m)

Even the digital goddess making more money from CFs than digital sales. Not surprising at all

I also see album sales as an extension of merchandise, but it's nice to see the breakdown. The standard kpop group will make more money from touring, then album sales, then CFs, and lastly digitals

The exceptions are groups in their early stages of their lifes, those groups can't tour

And the second exception are the most famous members of the groups the ones who get a lot of solo deals. Those probably get more money from CFs than from touring

Quote from Dreamer95

Seriously? lmfao That's your take away from it when digitals are the second close?

Of course it is

She is, as stated, THE biggest digital act and she's songwriter meaning she gets most of the monry from her digital songs

Most groups aren't self produced, so even the income from digital sales aren't going to be directly reversed to them

Also, IU album sales is nowhere near close to big groups how can sell millions a year. Lilac sales are fine, but even mid tier girlgroups are selling twice as much and they comeback at least twice a year. Album sales making more money than digitals is a no brainer

Quote from Dreamer95

No, not all idols. There are hundreds of nugu idols out there. I am specifically referring to known groups and to the narrative that digitals don't pay or don't matter and albums are the only way.

No, seriously, whom did you think I was referring to? Where in my OP does it mildly suggest that I am referrin to anyone other than popular groups? Literally show me.

Ohhh.... it doesn't end. Again dude, is there someone else in the room you're talking to that has me banned so I can't see them? I don't even....

You said idols fool. You don’t specify popular idols at all. Also even if that’s the case what’s popular? That accounts for like 10% of idols being generous. So basically you made a point about how probably under 10% of artists make decent money from streaming and basically everything as what? Yes of course streaming matters but to most idols it doesn’t generate enough money. Remember Sherlock that that streaming money doesn’t only go to the idols. Idols will only see a percentage of that money. So again your point is stupid. Yes for the top like 5% streaming probably makes them damn good money but for like 95% of idols it probably gives them shit for money.

Also you mention CFs, that definitely makes Dasom a shit ton of money first of all she probably gets a higher percentage of that money than say from streaming revenue which you think she gets 30% of that. It’s not a crazy amount probably in the range of 100k being generous probably less than that. For an estimate 100,000,000 million streams on Spotify would net you about 400k. I doubt most Kpop groups can get this number let alone soloist. So again yes streams can make you money but only for the top like 5% of idols. The rest probably get paid Pennie’s for streams alone.

Quote from Dreamer95

Dude, why the fuck would I be referring to nugu idols who have neither digitals,nor physicals nor touring numbers nor CFs?? Of course I am referring to groups that actually have any of these and specifically the ones that have digitals. How many nugus have good digitals?

Not even talking about bugs idols dude. Probably a lot of mid level groups as well. I literally said 100,000,000 million streams will net you roughly 400k. Not many groups have songs even close to that. Plus factoring in writers, producers, the company, everyone involved with the song gets a slice, then the idols. Streams don’t make much money unless you are basically a prolific songwriter, or a member of like the top 10 biggest groups in Kpop.

Quote from Dreamer95

Dude, it doesn't matter who she is, it is the individual stats that matter and thankfully we have them. She released Lilac in 2021 and had 2 hits from that album. Let's say some of that revenue share comes from past releases, let's say 30% of it, can't be more. 2 hit songs with combined 1.5 billion Gaon index brough around 5 million USD, are you kidding me? That's crazy. Idols certainly make money from streaming, it is stupid to deny it looking at FF. We know what their debt was from papers and we know that it was all paid and Keena even received a huge check. It is from less than billion Spotify streams and other streaming platforms.

I seriously don't want to her this "Spotify doesn't pay" bullshit anymore. Why would artists and studios abandon physical media and go on Spotify if that was the case, you're not making any sense lil bro. Streaming is a huge industry, it is fucked up and unfair but those who do get paid, get paid well, stop this nonsense yall.

I mean, of course they pay. Do they pay shit tons of money? Of course, if you have billions of streams. The point is someone who is big enough to earn millions with digital sales will likely have enough status to make mote money from other sources, being touring, CFs or album sales as we already see by IU

The elephant I the room is revenue does not equal to money into idols accounts because most of them don't compose their music (unlike IU), so it's a revenue that is filtered and divided between songwriters and producers

The companies didn't abandoned physical media from the bottom of their hearts. The market has spoken and forced them to adapt. The all time peak in revenue in music industry is still the late 90s where most people used to buy albums, simply because the average spending was bigger

Quote from Dreamer95

And those are the one ones that matter.

Your point is useless dude. Yeah the people that get hundreds of millions of streams do make a lot of money from it. Most idols, groups don’t. Like do you think you made some profound point here?

But in reality for most idols streaming is probably just one segment, probably a small one, of their revenue. CFs, touring, album sale, and other side gigs generate more money.

Like dude your point would be like if I use Jeff Bezos as an example of your average business owners salary. It’s dumb as hell.

Quote from Dreamer95

Seriously? lmfao That's your take away from it when digitals are the second close?

IU is not a big album sellers though, does she sells a lot of Merch? She has huge digitals though and she write her songs right?

I would be way more interested in knowing how money BTS get from merch and digitals or how much money SVT get from album sales. But of course they are the crème de la crème. The 1%.

Good for them, poor idols have to give their whole life to their fans, its great that they can earn that much money, with brain dead fans and haters. They deserve it all

Sistar was not only digital sales...... they did SO many events and festivals at their peak. I remember reading an old article that during college festival season they might have 3-4 schedules in one day, and each event paid ~10k for a 20-30 minute performance. It's not like they just released digital singles and didn't do anything else. They were hustling every day of the week for 7 years. Buying a 1.5 million dollar building after 4 years of working is impressive but it was probably on a mortgage and Sistar was one of the top groups of their gen. That's really the bare minimum...

Quote from Dreamer95

We already established that we have different views of who "most idols" are, why don't we just agree to disagree? For me nugus were never in the equation, I was referring to idols who at least enter the charts. Obviously idols whose songs never chart but get 100k sales would make more money from albums sales my friend, why are we arguing over basic common sense?

Dude, because if I made such thread I'd make it clear that I'm comparing Bezos with other billionaires who run multinational companies and not with everyone who owns a shop? I made myself clear, sorry you didn't get it, but why are we arguing over this? If you aren't arguing with me that BTS or Twice make pennies from streaming compared to album sales (although Twice probably does now) then we are good, there is nothing for us to argue about. I never mentioned any nugu example why are you shoving them in here? Again, sorry you misunderstood.

Your point is not something anyone disagrees with. Super successful artists do make money off streaming but streaming overall doesn’t pay well. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Quote from sonemariam

Who paid for the costs? YG or BP?

And where did you get the 70/30 numbers?

Oh I got it wrong. It should be 50/50 for the overseas touring btw YG/artists.

If... "Born Pink World Tour" got...

Gross revenue: $300,000,000 USD

Estimated revenue: $180,000,000 USD (60% of grossing)

50/50 = $90,000,000 USD / 4 (members)

= $22,500,000 USD (before tax)/ member!

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