there are some things that i think need to be said in the wake of the dispatch chuu article, and that i haven't seen anyone else directly address.
tldr for those who didnt see: loona had a system with blockberry where they shared costs equally, but revenue 70-30 in bbc's favor. this means that if the cost was $100, and the revenue was $100, loona and bbc each paid $50, but bbc earned $70 and loona earned $30, so loona went $20 more in debt to bbc despite the project recouping all of its expenses. these numbers only get worse the higher the cost/revenue ratio is. loona even pays bbc if there is zero revenue, because they get loona's portion of the cost.
functionally, this means that loona stays in debt. forever. according to bbc's numbers, the loona members - even after all of loona's successes and the fact that it makes a net gain now - are all still around $150,000 in debt to the company after 5 years. this is in addition to the other abuses standard to the idol industry, like starvation and mental abuse.
what i want to talk about is this: a series of facts.
1. many of the girls' families were concerned about the promises bbc made to their trainees and thought loona was a scam at best and a trafficking scheme at worst.
2. yves was promised debut within weeks of joining bbc. olivia hye trained for one day. loona 1/3 was flown all over the world for teeny tiny teaser videos. all of this was pre-debut. many of them talk about it seeming too good to be true.
3. go won and olivia hye have admitted they were already starstruck by older members of loona like heejin before even considering joining bbc. they saw their ads at the bus stop on the way to school. they wanted badly to be friends with them.
4. all contracts are individual. any revenue from one girl was given solely to her and applied solely to her own debt.
4a. chuu is the only member who's escaped her trainee debt. her revenue was not applied to anyone else's debts.
6. when a member is in debt to the company at the end of her contract, she can be compelled to renew to pay it back.
7. loona had the most expensive predebut in kpop history.
8. of the 12 members, only haseul, vivi, jinsoul, and yves were over south korea's age of majority — 19 in international age — when they debuted.
8a. of these 4, only vivi, jinsoul, and yves were 20. haseul had turned 19 less than four months ago.
9. kim lip was 18 when she debuted with 'eclipse.' chuu was 18 when she debuted with 'heart attack.' choerry was 17 when she debuted with 'love cherry motion.' go won was 17 when she debuted with 'one and only.' hyunjin was 16 when she debuted with 'around you.' olivia hye was 16 when she debuted with 'egoist.' heejin was 15 when she debuted with 'vivid.'
9a. yeojin was 14 years old when she debuted with 'kiss later'.
i'm begging at this point.
do not support loona's next comeback.
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