AoA reveals they've been paid $0 since debut despite working every day

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

Girl group AOA has not yet been paid by its management agency despite working every day, the members said Tuesday.

Asked on SBS’ radio’s “Cultwo Show” about whether their financial status had changed after their debut, the group replied that it only received pocket money from the agency’s owner.

“We haven’t received the official pay yet, but last time our boss gave us enough pocket money to go clothes shopping,” the group said.



The members added that they had not had any days off.

“We recently released three albums in a row so we couldn’t take a single day off over the last year,” said one.

Worried about the members’ health, the show’s host, Jung Chan-woo, asked how often the agency’s boss treated the six members.

“He has bought us beef once since we debuted,” the group said.





1. [+256, -8] But they've had back to hack hits and they still don't make any money???

2. [+217, -10] They've been working for three years now and they still haven't been paid? I'm pretty sure with their hits, they should've been able to pay off their album expenses and still have enough left over to be paid?

3. [+192, -3] Other companies split their income to pay their expenses off and the remaining to pay the members but in FNC, all of the income goes back towards paying their investments before the members see any pay themselves. I saw it on their reality show. It's a bit of a dirty system.

4. [+29, -0] FNC seems famous for not paying their artists properly. They're not even a small agency anymore with FT Island, CNBLUE, and Juniel. They should pay their artists while working them.

5. [+21, -1] While the CEO drives a Bentley, the members are working like dogs..

6. [+15, -1] Saw their fancams and half of them are them performing in the rain. Their company really works them like that and doesn't pay them? They've had three hits already with Short Skirt, Short Hair, and Like a Cat..

7. [+14, -1] The company should at least make it 90% going back to investments and 10% towards the members... being paid $0 for three years of work is so harsh.

8. [+9, -0] There's a documentary of Lee Hongki saying he was never paid during the height of FT Island's fame when I'm sure they made a lot of money. FNC itself seems to be the problem.

9. [+8, -2] People don't seem to realize that AOA was a band concept for a long time before they changed to a sexy concept. It's only recently that they started turning a profit. During the time they weren't popular, the company kept them and paid for all of their expenses. AOA has a long way to go to pay all that back along with their pre-debut investments. Don't treat FNC like the devils when it's FNC's responsibility to cover all of the losses if AOA doesn't do well. AOA can leave the company if they fail, but the company still has expenses to pay off. Don't think that just because they're on a few music shows now that they make a lot of money. There are very few idol groups who make hundreds of thousands. You can be #1 on the Melon charts all year long and the singer is only returned $43 in profit. Physical albums are what makes the artist money but no one buys those anymore.

10. [+8, -0] Hul.. AOA's three years in already. I remember JYP's Jackson said on 'Roommate' that he was paid and he only debuted this year. I'd hate being in FNC.




Source: kpopherald, netizenbuzz, newsen via nate

Comments

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Wasn't this "revealed" last year already?

[hongaerin.livejournal.com]

I guess the "revelation" is that they still have not been paid since last year, even after Miniskirt and Short Hair :/

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Idk, I've been following CNBlue since their japanese day so it's not really a surprise considering thier (or FT situation)
I'd be surprised if they got paid tbh
But teh girls are getting a few acting gigs and modeling, ad... so hopefully they get some money soon

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

FNC doesn't pay much. Yonghwa is still buying stuff for his band mates.

[bubble-monkey9.livejournal.com]

only in 2010 when he was the only one getting work. jonghyun invested in a cafe and bought a house this year. they're not waiting for yh to buy them stuff still lol

[sandritablue.livejournal.com]

He does but the little things only bcs he wants to lol. Like in Australia, he bought toy cars for Jungshin and Minhyuk lol

[twinkystar16.livejournal.com]

On the contrary,ft island and cnblue are actually well paid
Yonghwa bought two houses this year (one in busan another one in Seoul)
Hongki purchased a maserati car
All of them have moved out of dorm to new home and have been driving fancy cars

[torontok.livejournal.com]

Yet another reason why the trainee debt system is fucked up.If Dahee was 300k in debt, imagine how much these girls must've been in to still not be getting paid

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

no wonder fnc is profiting a lot and the ceo believes they are 'stealing' the jype big 3 spot, their employees aren't being paid.

[ohlookshiny.livejournal.com]

wow. so basically they have to pay back the debt they incurred as trainees for the rest of their career? wtf.

so when do idols actually start earning money? 5 years into their careers? some idols take that long to make it big, if they even make it big at all. i don't see how it can be legal not to pay someone for 3 years??

tbh idk why anyone would want to become an idol. i wouldn't risk being that much in debt if the possibility of any real success was so small. i'm thousands in debt bc of university fees but at least i'm getting a degree out of it. if your idol career fails and you never make any real money, you get literally nothing out of it. damn. that sucks so much :/

[nyankee.livejournal.com]

It depends on how the company structures their contracts in terms of repayment. I'm pretty sure most if not all mid- to major-market companies have this kind of thing written in (where you have to pay off their initial investment) but from all of the models I've seen, they either pay off the debt concurrent with their own payment (as a percentage of earnings taken out of each payout) or they pay off the total balance before they see a payout.

I absolutely could not ever see myself agreeing to contract terms like that, but it's so ingrained in the business over there than I'm sure most idols know what's coming with regards to this.

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

it's literally so demonic. the way the kpop industry is structured honestly does no one any good and from an international business major all of this is absurd to me. who would ever think it would be a good idea to invest hundreds of thousands into the hope that maybe some talent could be fostered and money could be made. the risk is too high. i would never be an idol unless i got into a huge company that could over promote me so even if my band sucks, we have some delusional fans/stans that buy thousands of my cds and hopefully launch me into acting.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Idols: "We're slaves. Literally.Hahahahahahahahahahaha :3"
Presenters/Audience: "Hahahahahahaha. You girls are so cute!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahaha."

Why do we keep laughing this off...?

[thariamon.livejournal.com]

Am I supposed to feel better for the pocket monkey and the beef?

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

i can't believe they aren't even seeing a percentage of their earnings. the idol debt system is so messed up. where is the risk for the companies? like someone said above, it reminds me a lot of how models are treated by their agencies.

[fallendaydreams.livejournal.com]

Somethin smells stanky

[miuratenshi.livejournal.com]

FNC ain't shit.

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

aww, my babies :/

[weerainbow.livejournal.com]

Proof once again that the system rather sucks :( I hope they start earning soon, it must be tough lasting a long time after debut and not receiving any wages yet. I feel for all the groups that are stuck in this situation.