Why some K-Pop artists (or any artist) have low incomes...
Recently Allkpop put up an article about how low artists get paid through major streaming sites. JTBC reported that artists get 6% from these sites. Now this is now surprise for those who know about the business. Now AllKpop has done many article like this, so to some this may not be a surprise but for those who are new and don’t know it may be a shock.
Record labels do a lot more than what an artist does. Yes the artists is performing the songs but someone in the label (i hope) is the one setting up the tour dates, when they are going to release the album, when the music video is being released, etc. A label can invest between $500,000-$2,000,000 in artist development fees, which include making the album, having 1-2 music videos for the album, promotions, etc. The label has to get that money back from someplace. So It’s not just the artists that is working hard, it’s everyone from the label to the artist. That’s why a lot of artists are apart of the production process or they make and distribute their own music so that they can get more money. So yes it is sad to see someone work tirelessly day after day and not get anything in exchange.
Imagine this:
According to Techdirt.com,
A band gets $1 million in advanced from their label to make an album.
“They spend half a million to record their album. That leaves the band with $500,000. They pay $100,000 to their manager for 20 percent commission. They pay $25,000 each to their lawyer and business manager. That leaves $350,000 for the four band members to split. After $170,000 in taxes, there’s $180,000 left. That comes out to $45,000 per person. That’s $45,000 to live on for a year until the record gets released. The record is a big hit and sells a million copies. (How a bidding-war band sells a million copies of its debut record is another rant entirely, but it’s based on any basic civics-class knowledge that any of us have about cartels. Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National Park Service.) So, this band releases two singles and makes two videos. The two videos cost a million dollars to make and 50 percent of the video production costs are recouped out of the band’s royalties. The band gets $200,000 in tour support, which is 100 percent recoupable. The record company spends $300,000 on independent radio promotion. You have to pay independent promotion to get your song on the radio; independent promotion is a system where the record companies use middlemen so they can pretend not to know that radio stations – the unified broadcast system – are getting paid to play their records. All of those independent promotion costs are charged to the band. Since the original million-dollar advance is also recoupable, the band owes $2 million to the record company. If all of the million records are sold at full price with no discounts or record clubs, the band earns $2 million in royalties, since their 20 percent royalty works out to $2 a record. Two million dollars in royalties minus $2 million in recoupable expenses equals … zero!” Via Techdirt.com
This is the best example I can give you so that you can see what is actually going on in the industry and not have a biased opinion because your favorite artist/group is not getting the money they deserve.
Imagine if they don’t make back any of the money the company invested. they’re definitely not going to be paid.
Granted I don’t know how it normally is in S.Korea, the company may be the ones that set everything up for their artist/group but I’m pretty sure it’s similar.
We’re only seeing what we are shown. No one knows what the CEO of a company is really doing. This is still a business and the company needs money so the artists can live out their dream.
There’s a lot more to this but this is just the basic understanding. There a bunch more people that need to get paid before the artists does.
