Are they making more or less than, say a cashier, cleaner, construction worker, bus driver etc?
How much is the average salary for a Kpop idol compared to other business salaries?
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A guy who is a former idol said a few years back in a video that you need to pay the (in my opinion stupid) debt back to your agency, if you are not from a generous company or from the top lables and he said it makes it hard to have money cause of this situation.
He said if they made 2K they had to devide it trought 8 people, so about 250$ per member. Than they had to pay rent, the staff of their company and their debt, so about 20$ had been left for himself. He said to make about 200$ they had to earn about 20K a month but the longer the group existed, the lesser they got invited to events and shows who could make them earn more money. He said he was frustrated cause of that and so he took a side job as TV show MC where he earned 2K (after paying taxes) that his agency could not take away from him. He added when he left his agency oneday, he still owed them 20.000$ in debt for some reason.
Onetime a member left his group and the agency demanded him to pay a 300K $ big debt and the boy said he never got to see any money he made in his group, so he has no money to even give to his former agency and he said his parents can't even help, when the agency asked if his parents could pay for him since his mom never worked and his dad was too sick to work. He also said if he will find a job it might not be enough to pay the debt since he needs to pay for his own living in the first place. The agency reduced the debt to 100K cause of the situation but the dude said it was still too much to ever pay off.
There was a girlgroup where the girls said they only had been payed 100$ a month for 7 years and that the agency only payed rent and their phone bills, so the girls also added they almost starved since 100$ a month per person was not much in Korea, especially since they also needed to buy their own fashion, hygiene products, their own phones, etc. And the girls said their agency was super greedy by taking 40K a month while the girls only got 400$ (devided by the girls 100$ per person) and that the girls also felt very exploited in this situation.
Most people who leave their company even without debuting end up in debts and thats a very bad situation.
The members of A.C.E for example said that they had been one of the few very lucky people. The CEO of their comoany is a former Stone Entertainment employe and she was so unhappy with how KPop works, that she decided to form her own company Beat Interactive, where people do not need to pay debts, are not getting overworked, ar not exploited, etc. She was very poor when she made her company, but she still tried to make sure that everyone gets what they deserve. She felt sorry to not be able to feed the boys properly every month or give them a larger apartment, but the boys said when they had been trainees, she still gave them 200$ pocket money from her own savings each month (so a total of 1K $) and when the boys debuted they imediatly got 2.000$ from her and said that since debut they earn quit good money, even moved to a larger apartment. When being asked if they ow her any debt, the boys said no. And this is not even a top company, the woman build everything on being broke (!)
When WANNA ONE debuted a TV show MC asked them if they made any money already and what they would do with it. All boys said they earned 10.000$ in the first month and one said he was even having so much money, that he can send most of it to his parents who are broke and have a debt to help them to pay it off. Some sources said back than, that the boys earned aparently so much money in their 2 year career, that they all could've almost end up as a milionair at the end. Now look at other KPop-groups from survival shows who are more successfull and how rich they might end up at the end.
I think being an idol in most companies is very rough, because of the debt system and cause many smaller agencies make lesser income compared to the big names.
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I'm reminded of this news article from October 2020, which states:
According to data submitted by National Tax Service (NTS) upon request from Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party on Monday, 6,372 Korean singers that reported their 2018 annual income earned a total 409.5 billion won in income. The average income of each individual singer was 64.28 million won.
₩64.28 million is the equivalent of only USD $47,304, which isn't a very high annual income, though given that these figures are almost four years old, the average pay is probably higher these days.
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Definitely less than minimum wage
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I'm reminded of this news article from October 2020, which states:
According to data submitted by National Tax Service (NTS) upon request from Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party on Monday, 6,372 Korean singers that reported their 2018 annual income earned a total 409.5 billion won in income. The average income of each individual singer was 64.28 million won.
₩64.28 million is the equivalent of only USD $47,304, which isn't a very high annual income, though given that these figures are almost four years old, the average pay is probably higher these days.
does it also show the medium salary instead of the average?
since groups like BTS and BP and Twice etc etc tend to skew the average
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Finding the average salary of a Kpop idol is going to be nearly impossible, as some are multi-millionaires while others are in debt to their company and making no money. Your outcome will vary wildly based on your success or lack thereof.
That being said, I think it's actually the unsuccessful idols that will skew the numbers in a way, because basically anyone you hear about on a regular basis is making a pretty penny, not just the absolute top tier groups. It's all the "nugus" you've rarely even heard of that will bring the average down.
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kpop idols are not exactly salaried employees that a like to like comparison can be made
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Top idols make millions per year especially from concert tours, CFs and fan meet tours. Eg BP, Twice, Yoona, Taeyeon, Baekhyun, Red Velvet etc and I believe, the more senior and active idols make much more than their juniors even if the juniors are more popular now because of better contract terms where senior idols get to keep most of what they make.
Mid tier idols make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year probably from 300k to 900k
And low tier idols make tens of thousands of dollars as long as they're active. Kpop is easier to sell beyond Korea now especially through performances at festivals in different countries which can earn less popular idols some money as well.
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Just right now we have the fromis9 situation, almost 7 years of career and no payment despite being a fairly known name in the industry with almost 1 million of album sold, so it depends a lot of particular situations with each group. Most nugus don't earn a cent, most low tier groups barely make money, mid tier groups and above are cashing out.
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does it also show the medium salary instead of the average?
since groups like BTS and BP and Twice etc etc tend to skew the averageFinding the average salary of a Kpop idol is going to be nearly impossible, as some are multi-millionaires while others are in debt to their company and making no money. Your outcome will vary wildly based on your success or lack thereof.
That being said, I think it's actually the unsuccessful idols that will skew the numbers in a way, because basically anyone you hear about on a regular basis is making a pretty penny, not just the absolute top tier groups. It's all the "nugus" you've rarely even heard of that will bring the average down.Unfortunately, there was no median pay figure provided, but the article does contain this statement:
Data showed that the top 1 percent earners – 63 of them – earned a combined 217.1 billion won in 2018, which is more than half of total earned income (53 percent). A singer in the highest 1 percent income bracket earned an average of 3.4 billion won, which is 113 times more than the average income of the remaining 99 percent at 30.5 million won.
Therefore, the pay distribution appears to be extremely top-heavy, with the top 1% receiving 53% of total pay, or an average of USD $2,499,321 per person. Meanwhile, the average pay for the bottom 99% was a meager USD $22,424.
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Unfortunately, there was no median pay figure provided, but the article does contain this statement:
Data showed that the top 1 percent earners – 63 of them – earned a combined 217.1 billion won in 2018, which is more than half of total earned income (53 percent). A singer in the highest 1 percent income bracket earned an average of 3.4 billion won, which is 113 times more than the average income of the remaining 99 percent at 30.5 million won.
Therefore, the pay distribution appears to be extremely top-heavy, with the top 1% receiving 53% of total pay, or an average of USD $2,499,321 per person. Meanwhile, the average pay for the bottom 99% was a meager USD $22,424.
understandable and even for the bottom I'm sure there's nugus that don't even earn 1/10 of that
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A guy who is a former idol said a few years back in a video that you need to pay the (in my opinion stupid) debt back to your agency, if you are not from a generous company or from the top lables and he said it makes it hard to have money cause of this situation.
He said if they made 2K they had to devide it trought 8 people, so about 250$ per member. Than they had to pay rent, the staff of their company and their debt, so about 20$ had been left for himself. He said to make about 200$ they had to earn about 20K a month but the longer the group existed, the lesser they got invited to events and shows who could make them earn more money. He said he was frustrated cause of that and so he took a side job as TV show MC where he earned 2K (after paying taxes) that his agency could not take away from him. He added when he left his agency oneday, he still owed them 20.000$ in debt for some reason.
Onetime a member left his group and the agency demanded him to pay a 300K $ big debt and the boy said he never got to see any money he made in his group, so he has no money to even give to his former agency and he said his parents can't even help, when the agency asked if his parents could pay for him since his mom never worked and his dad was too sick to work. He also said if he will find a job it might not be enough to pay the debt since he needs to pay for his own living in the first place. The agency reduced the debt to 100K cause of the situation but the dude said it was still too much to ever pay off.
There was a girlgroup where the girls said they only had been payed 100$ a month for 7 years and that the agency only payed rent and their phone bills, so the girls also added they almost starved since 100$ a month per person was not much in Korea, especially since they also needed to buy their own fashion, hygiene products, their own phones, etc. And the girls said their agency was super greedy by taking 40K a month while the girls only got 400$ (devided by the girls 100$ per person) and that the girls also felt very exploited in this situation.
Most people who leave their company even without debuting end up in debts and thats a very bad situation.
The members of A.C.E for example said that they had been one of the few very lucky people. The CEO of their comoany is a former Stone Entertainment employe and she was so unhappy with how KPop works, that she decided to form her own company Beat Interactive, where people do not need to pay debts, are not getting overworked, ar not exploited, etc. She was very poor when she made her company, but she still tried to make sure that everyone gets what they deserve. She felt sorry to not be able to feed the boys properly every month or give them a larger apartment, but the boys said when they had been trainees, she still gave them 200$ pocket money from her own savings each month (so a total of 1K $) and when the boys debuted they imediatly got 2.000$ from her and said that since debut they earn quit good money, even moved to a larger apartment. When being asked if they ow her any debt, the boys said no. And this is not even a top company, the woman build everything on being broke (!)
When WANNA ONE debuted a TV show MC asked them if they made any money already and what they would do with it. All boys said they earned 10.000$ in the first month and one said he was even having so much money, that he can send most of it to his parents who are broke and have a debt to help them to pay it off. Some sources said back than, that the boys earned aparently so much money in their 2 year career, that they all could've almost end up as a milionair at the end. Now look at other KPop-groups from survival shows who are more successfull and how rich they might end up at the end.
I think being an idol in most companies is very rough, because of the debt system and cause many smaller agencies make lesser income compared to the big names.
All of this. Yes the tldr of it all is it depends heavily on your group the popularity and the agency you are in. Big agencies or at least very well known agencies no debts. Also the low pay is why most members of groups try to branch out into solo careers. It's why people like cha eunwoo is always doing something NOT Astro he gets all the $$$$. This applies to big groups too like seventeen, they are popular and make money but that has to split between 13 people. Only a few of the members are truly rich the members that took on a solo career mingyu solo music and lots of acting, modeling roles. Woozi one of the richest because he makes all of their music and even makes music for tv shows dramas movies and other kpop idols so the royalties are nice $$$.
If you come from a small agency with debt and you don't develop your skills and do any solo work etc you are destined to be overworked and stressed as a idol making less money than a minimum wage worker but doing 200× the work 🤡 you'd feel like a 🤡 at the end of it
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