some interesting facts regarding idol contracts

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

There are 1236 idols and trainees who have signed on to a contract:
- slightly over 40% signs onto "slave" contract 5 years or longer
- by age
over 20: 853
16-19: 231
13-15: 83
10-12: 23
below 10: 9
- average contract length is 3 years and 5 months
- average cost per idol per month is 1,470,000₩(~$1,300USD)

Contract lengths from the big 6 companies:
SM: 7 years
YG: 5 years
JYP: 7 years
FNC: 7 years
Cube: 7 years
DSP: 5 years

sources: 연합뉴스 TV youtube, comment section of asianjunkie 1 & 2

found these in the comment section of asianjunkie and thought it was really interesting. also i didn't know how to tag this so i just tagged the big companies

Comments

[abcd123.livejournal.com]

Looking at the cost of an idol per /month/ makes me realize it must be really hard for a lot of groups to make enough to cover all the debts - there's a lot of gambling on success going on between both idols and their companies in that case...

That being said the fact that there is more then 100 idols/trainees under 15 in the system is horrifying. Imo - even 16/17 is too young but I think back to my peers who were by then pretty sure of their career paths at that age and can somewhat understand a persons want to start training to achieve their dreams.

Also- from what I'm getting from these statistics - most of the big six have contract lengths almost double the size of an average contract length?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

yep. i wonder how in the world did they come up with the average length? i mean i was pretty bad in maths but my calculator tells me that the average length of these 6 companies are 6,3 years. since they're the biggest companies with the most idols i wonder how short the contracts from other companies are.

[anewtrilogy.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's all because of $? Your typical nugu company is probably well aware of the fact they can't afford 5 or 7 years of promotions, i mean, most of them don't even have a budget for a decent debut MV, so i think it makes sense to have a shorter contract, because what's the point of dragging it for so long.

[carra-mia.livejournal.com]

This + big company invest so much in you that if you gonna make it big they want be sure that they& only they will be the ones to capitalize on it aka you won't "run away" to a better place fast, you'll leave only after this ridic amount of time, probably 75% chance that they milked you dry/got your career at rock bottom already so it makes a really nice practice for the big ones.

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

I don't see it as bad whent they sign young trainees to companies (unless they are foreigners and have to leave their home). I dont' think their training it's the same at the beginning when they sign than a couple of years before debuting.
For how of some idols talk about that part of their life it feels more like an extracurricular activity.
In "Hello Counsellor" has been talked several times how pretty much evey kid in Korea has an activity to do at every moment of the day (and I also read a couple of articles about it) and it's usually more an obligation from their parents, so at least with this if it's something they love and not something their parents are forcing them I cannot even be mad lol but I guess in some cases money hungry parents could also force them.

With every company the exigency is going to be different, but if it's more like singing, dancing, etc classes after school it doesn't sound worst than what any regular kid has to do in Korea.

[abcd123.livejournal.com]

You actually bring up a really good point here about the kids in Korea having so many activities and idol training being like an extracurricular activity for them. I guess that just shows how different the culture is in Korea vs the United States.

I guess though my biggest worry is those kids who get street casted by not so good companies and at such a young age they pretty much have to stay in this agreement even if they decide they don't want to be an idol. I'm probably just real sensitive though because I was reading old articles about pledis punishing seventeen predebut and it's like - they were all my around my brothers ages while training but still had to put up with a lot. they really need a strong mentality when it comes to evaluations too, and imo it seems like a lot for kids to go through.

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. In fact, when I wrote "with every company the exigency is going to be different" I was thinking in cases like you said. I'm pretty sure a lot of companies abuse the fact that some of those idols are young and a bit clueless and get them in situations they don't fully understand and they are not going to know how to get out of them and at the same time they expect of them more than a kid can do U_U

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

sad reality is that some trainees neglect school and only focus on training (not all, i know school is very important for JYPE). sometimes they even leave school earlier just for training. while other students their age study for school they have training lessons. so i wouldnt exactly call it "extracurricular activity"

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

lmao I follow mostly groups from JYPE which I know they gave importance to studies but still happens with foreign members so I'm not gonna say I don't agree with you because I do agree XD
Like I said to eelgirl13 with "with every company the exigency is going to be different" I meant there is still companies that are going to abuse their idols, including their time without giving a second thought about their future. But if we use what it should be the "right" way, I don't see it that bad to start training when you are young. The problem is companies are always shady and we never know if any of them is doing it the "right" way.

[seulgibear.livejournal.com]

i think there was actually a law passed recently that students (incl idols who miss schools bc of schedules) are no longer allowed to miss classes more
than any other normal student. idk how strongly this is enforced though

[exclusive] attend school? or perform? law that will hold k-pop idols back ‘kim youngran act’https://t.co/ADGuHX2raf (https://t.co/ADGuHX2raf) pic.twitter.com/VB2x9pXhnJ (https://t.co/VB2x9pXhnJ)

— gem • 잼 (@svnthsns) September 26, 2016 (https://twitter.com/svnthsns/status/780389601277988867)

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this :) At first read, it made me happy but then I was worried in case that means more hectic schedules for idols. I guess as kpop fans we are always going to be worried about them lol

[seulgibear.livejournal.com]

yeah what can we do :/ my first thought was companies would end up pulling all of them out of school if it intervened with debuted idols. i guess trainees can work around but it'd be harder for the others

[simprov.livejournal.com]

yeah, kids in korea are ridiculously busy. going to a company to train for a few hours after school really isn't any different than going to piano hagwon, then english hagwon, then math hagwon, then taekwondo after school

[odd-fish-stick.livejournal.com]

I know JYP has contract renegotiations when they hit 5 years or so. I don't know about the other ones.

[ohmontauk.livejournal.com]

EXO's contracts are for 10 years though.

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

Holy shit

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

until 2021. at least thats when kris' and luhan's contracts end. but iirc promotions outside of korea dont count so the m members have more time left on their contracts than the k members

[afrozenflowerr.livejournal.com]

yikes.

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

that's like a fucking life time wth

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

thats SM style

[juhli.livejournal.com]

we are morphing into ontd with the bullet points lol

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

lol i just c/p it from the source (aka comment section)

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

I wonder what type of contract Bts has. Because they're so popular but as far as I'm concerned, they're from a small company?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

8eight were signed in 2007 and disbanded in 2014 after their contracts ended, so i guess 7 years as well. Lim Jeong-hee on the other hand only signed a 3 year contract, so...

[izumichan31.livejournal.com]

BTS are into their forth year now since they just had their 3rd anniversary earlier this year so I'd probably go with 7 years.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

makes sense since their CEO is a former JYPE employee so he prob adapted their contracts

[diamondroad17.livejournal.com]

Veterans can negotiate shorter contracts. I know that San E signed a one year contract the year before he left JYPE. 2PM renewed with JYPE in 2015, they signed a new 3 years contract. Lim Jeong Hee was not a new debut when she switch to Big Hit.

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

thank you! (it still feels kind of harsh, though.)

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

ah i was wondering about this, makes sense!

[misspoirot.livejournal.com]

7?? Really? Last time I heard kris' contract is 10 years long, no?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

apparently overseas activities dont count so thats why m's contracts are longer than k's...

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

for so many trainees being under 15 scares me - i think living the trainee or even idol life can really disassociate you from 'the real world' and if their career as an idol fails, what kind of back up do they have?