How much does it cost to make a girl group?

Quote from Drew_B

I've got a lot saved up but I need a ball park figure to see how much more I'll need.

I'm tired of waiting for someone to beat NJ so I'll just do it my damn self.

It depends on your model of forming a girl group. The first way is to recruit trainees, provide a training system for them for near 2-3 years. You will pay for teachers: vocal, choreo, English language, some other music skills (such as rapping, djing or composing, etc). For every actual member position you should have 3-4 trainees that will compete with each other. So if you want 4 members group (bare minimum), you need to recruit at least 12 trainees. Some of them will leave you before debut will happen, some of them will be excluded due to lack of skills.

Pros: no salaries and no cost living expenses for trainees, careful selection, organic and stable growth of their skills according to your vision, group's chemistry.

Cons: long period, expenses for teachers, unstable roster (trainee may leave despite your desire to keep them)

Examples: XG, CLC, Blackpink

The second way is to find former trainees or young idols which are currently jobless, - sign up the contract and rush them to debut as NGG, because they are already prepared (PIXY). There could be good if you will hunt a raising star which already participated in some survival shows. Then you can build a group around her (GIDLE, KIOF).

Pros: short period, no need to invest in education, members are tied up by legal obligations, small but dedicated fandom from the start.

Cons: you will pay for their cost living, including salaries, members will have more profit distribution then trainees (i.e. they may demand 30%-40%, especially if you have a raising star), bad history from their previous job that could affect to your current group.


So, how much will it cost? Korea is a quite expensive country. You should invest near 1-2M $ for debut without any guarantee of success. For example, even the legendary HSS has been flopped with HOT ISSUE before reaching the charts with KIOF. It's better to imagine those 1-2M will never come back, then you can start.