Girl Group TAHITI Member Ari Earned Zero Income in Four Years

[horichansenpai.livejournal.com]

Despite the appeal of being an idol singer, it definitely isn’t always glamorous. The upcoming episode of JTBC’s “Mom Is Watching” will feature a mother who is an obscure actress and her daughter who is an unknown singer. The singer in question is girl group TAHITI’s youngest member Ari. Her mother decided to make an appearance on the show in order to find out what exactly her daughter is doing since she cannot be seen on television.

Ari’s mother reveals that her daughter has worked for four years, but has yet to earn an income. She comments, “When I say my daughter is an idol singer, people think she earns a lot of money. However, after promoting for four years she has earned zero [South Korean Won].”

The young singer confesses her sadness and difficulties as an unrecognized singer. She shares, “I was really happy that I would be on a music show, but a day before the filming a representative called and asked us to shorten our song down to two minutes. I feel sad that I haven’t had an opportunity to show a proper performance.” As she confides her true feelings, tears flow from her eyes.

More of Ari’s experiences and daily life will be revealed in the upcoming episode of “Mom Is Watching” that will air on June 13 at 11 p.m. KST.


Article: Tahiti Ari's mother, "My girl group daughter has made 0 cents in 4 years" shocking confession

Source: Mydaily via Naver

1. [+684, -12] Stars make tons of money when they're famous but it's so hard getting to that point

2. [+595, -13] Star trainees need to read this and realize that it's only a very small minority who actually make it

3. [+499, -90] Hul... 0 cents in income... is that a slave contract?
- Not like Tahiti's a successful group, their company invested money into training them and basically feeding them and keeping a roof over their heads
- I get that their company invested in them but no income for four years sounds fishy
- ^ You don't seem to realize that investments are huge
- I'm sure their company is still losing money with their investment on them right now

4. [+403, -9] She's only a "girl group member" on paper, if the group isn't promoting, she might as well be called unemployed. People think that idols are all flashy and successful but there's a lot of luck and effort that goes into it.

5. [+303, -32] It's okay, all you need is one hit track and you can go invest in a building ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

6. [+54, -3] Why would you expect an income if she never got popular... I'm sure their company is already overinvesting on keeping the girl group around with make up, manager, and coordi costs.

7. [+54, -7] A reality check for many teens hoping to be idols in Korea

8. [+36, -0] Even AOA hasn't been paid until recently, it'd be weird if Tahiti had any income

9. [+35, -0] It's not that shocking. But once they do get popular, they all end up investing in real estate, buying their parents new stores, cars, houses... the income gap jumps huge which is why people never bother worrying about celebrities.


10. [+32, -0] Hopefully trainees read this. This is reality.

Sources: soompi, NetizenBuzz, Naver

Comments

[pineepie.livejournal.com]

that is slavery in the 21st century... i am lost for words...

[pepsi-twist9.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the groups we forget about or the ones that don't really make it anywhere ever see income or if they just owe their companies...

[lulufairybubble.livejournal.com]

Such a shame. And at this rate even if she began to make money she still wouldnt see any for a very long time bc of the debt of her trainee days plus everyday since she had her debut she has continued to add to the debt. I dont think some people realize how much money idols owe to their companies and how it never ends. Everyday in the dorm is debt. Everyday getting makeup and hair is debt. All the studio time is debt. Practicing in the dance rooms is debt and so are vocal lessons,clothing,transportation and food. It is horrible.

[bishieaddict.livejournal.com]

Yah.. maybe they shouldnt live in dorms. They could eat their own food, wear their own clothes, and just pay for their expenses... I don't like how the company just unilaterally takes care of them all... which leaves them no choice.

[lulufairybubble.livejournal.com]

Yep they really are not given a choice. Say they didnt live in a dorm and were late due to traffic,the scolding they would receive would be so bad and they would be made to feel very guilty for delaying other people plus im sure there would be a penalty fee. And like with food the companies say sometimes it is a gift but then the trainees or idols get charged for it. So much shady stuff going on that ensures the idol will always have a certain debt to the company. Honestly,being an idol like being a signer in other places does not pay well. The richest ones are those who get producing and writing credits like G Dragon or Zico. But a lot of idols are not given the chance to do that so the company hires people and boom more debt for the idol.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Well damn.

[pinkiikis.livejournal.com]

it is a shame..

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

damn tahiti is 4 years old? i wonder why their company has even bothered funding them for that long, other groups have disbanded in much less time

this makes me wonder which of the current gen of rookies are destined for failure. i think minx, berry good and sonamoo are gonna struggle for sure

[ggumd.livejournal.com]

slavery? Really? Her group is not popular and isn't bringing in income in any way so why would the company pay them when they can't even make back the investment that was put into making this group

[cafetin99.livejournal.com]

MTE, people believe that companies and all the people (not only the idols, but ALL the other people behind the idols) work for free...

[imangos.livejournal.com]

I hope either her group starts making money or she gets out of dodge--fast b/c at the rate she's going, she'll just continue to pile on the debt.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

Because receiving monetary compensation for your work is the basic relationship upon which employment is based. If someone's losing money on a restaurant they invested heavily in they don't get to just stop paying the wait staff. Besides which it's really the company's fault if a group isn't doing well: they picked them, they trained them, they're in charge of choosing the song, they do marketing, they control everything.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

at BEST they come out with several years of their lives largely wasted and no income from it

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

people acting like kpop is a meritocracy is one of the things that annoys me most about kpop fandom tbh

your favs outselling someone else doesn't mean shit about them, it means they have a big company that bought an especially catchy song, or they have a big company that's really good at building and manipulating a fanbase, or they just got really lucky for some reason

[moomoo-moonstar.livejournal.com]

MTE. Can you imagine them not paying songwriters or producers if their song didn't sell as expected? They'd never stand for it, and they'd be right.

[lovejae23.livejournal.com]

thank you.

[mamamoos.livejournal.com]

i worry about sonamoo w the shadiness that TS is not to say other companies wouldn't act exactly the same given the chance

[ggumd.livejournal.com]

there are different ways in which people work and get paid and how investments and loans are carried out, a resturant where you hire a worker to pay on a hourly salary wage is completely different from a company where investments are being put into housing, food, training, and clothes etc which will be made back when the group breaks even and starts making profit which hasn't happened, so on what basis are they being paid? regardless of the fault they flopped being on the company, they don't have to be paid. The resturant is not taking out loans on it's workers it's paying them an hourly wage so that example makes no sense

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Netizen 3 makes me cringe. It can be a dangerous thing for an idol to not make money and thus be dependent on their company for basic life provisions like food and a roof over their heads. Plus, no one 'ows' their company anything for doing that, like idols are mooching off of their company? Wtf.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Which rookie group isn't struggling? Most companies don't seem to have bearly enough funds to keep their groups on the scene and/or manage them horribly. Berry Good lost THREE members a few months after debut, that says alot as to what was going on behind the scenes.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

THANK you

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

restaurants also invest in training their employees, uniforms, etc. regardless of context you have to pay your workers, you shouldn't enter them into a contract where they can't leave but their being paid hinges on their group's success which is mostly out of their hands. these companies force their idols to live in their dorms, eat their food, get their hair/makeup done all on the company's tab, so the debt they run up is the company's fault and the idols shouldnt be punished for that. they work at least as hard, usually harder, than your average worker and deserve to be paid upfront, not work for years and see none of it bc the company decides how to spend it on them.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

dal shabet is also 4 years old and honestly i'm surprised wa$$up is almost 2

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

in every documentary on the "kpop training system" it talks abt how its some super-efficient star-producing machine, and other countries trying to emulate it and all that, but honestly if there were 1/4 as many artists and companies just invested in the naturally talented ones without all the ridiculous regimented dorm/starvation/debt lifestyle the quality could be so much higher

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

with stories like this im always torn between buying the albums to support the group or not buying them to say fuck you to the company (not that my individual actions matter at all but you know)

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

management is def the most important part, the groups i mentioned seem to have the worst companies overall whereas gfriend and lovelyz have done a pretty good job so far. members leaving doesnt mean as much anymore though, kara and girls day had a pretty turbulent past before they finally got their big break

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

wa$$up is definitely the most impressive for hanging in there that long with that budget

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

if you can't afford to pay your labour, get a better business model

'the capital investment goes into the workers instead of the business itself' is not a good argument, there's plenty of industries where it's standard for the company to pay for professional development for individuals (MBAs, other types of masters/courses to keep up with the state of the art technology in the field)

i don't care that this is a legal situation in korea, it's terrible and unethical

[caramelorchoco.livejournal.com]

the amount of lack of empathy coming off these comments tho

:/ how twisted can things get that you think 'oh its normal, stop being so surprised' when people dont get paid a cent for four years of work? that aint right, clearly

korea needs to sort out their laws for these entertainment companies, shady as fuck

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

mfte

[cast-no-shadow0.livejournal.com]

This! Most of these groups have talent and work so hard, but there is so much more to success than that.

Look at EXID, people keep saying they've always been talented, but it took a random fancam that really doesn't show off talent for them to find some success. And even they had Shinsadong Tiger behind them, who has already helped groups like Beast, 4minute, T-ara, etc. become successful. It's really a mix of fate and having talented producers, songwriters, and choreo on your side.

[ggumd.livejournal.com]

Even if there are companies that pay for the professional development of the individual that doesn't mean these companies in korea have to follow suit, and it being unethical and terrible is a whole another story

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

But, but, (insert fave) works so hard OK! They don't get to sleep or eat right and are always promoting. They DESERVE to make it! (insert tears that make no sense )

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

it's not another story, being unethical and terrible is the entire argument i'm making

[kashiyaek.livejournal.com]

late but 1+

[ggumd.livejournal.com]

nope it is another story, and the point of the argument I'm making is that business wise they dont have to be paid, treating people based on whats "right and wrong" is not how business works

[steelsigns.livejournal.com]

If these companies actually had to pay for these investments (rather than the trainees paying for it themselves - a la credit/debt), then they'd probably be more mindful of how they're spending and focus on making their talents big and profitable (rather than just pushing out groups in an already saturated market)

The way I see it, the companies have no incentive to put in their 200% for a group when technically, they're more loan sharks than managing companies - even if the group fails, they're owed all that money - so (supposedly) they've got nothing to lose

[wondergirlslove.livejournal.com]

damn, how does she survive?! Well, I know the company provides the basics, but that would be super rough to not have income for that long.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

i know they're nugu (at least for me)
but this kind of situation sounds so unfair
nobody should work for free smh