Income in entertainment industry heavily imbalanced

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

A-list actors earn more than 2 billion won (US $1.76 million) a year on average, but about 90 percent of the people in the acting business make only about 6.2 million won (US $5,475), tax agency records showed Tuesday.

Data provided by the National Tax Service (NTS) to Rep. Park Kwang-on for the ongoing parliamentary audits showed that 15,870 people filed income taxes last year as actors. Their annual income before taxes averaged 42 million won.

The top 1 percent earners, or 158 actors, made 2.08 billion (US $1.8 million) won last year, which equals 47.3 percent of the total income by all in the same career, records showed. The top 10 percent, or 1,587 actors, earned 367 million won (US $324,090), an equivalent of 86.8 percent of the total. The remaining 90 percent, or 14,283 people, took home 6.2 million won (US $5,475) for the year, or roughly 520,000 won (US $459) a month.

The disparity was as stark for singers and models. Of 4,667 people who listed their profession as singers, 46 in the top 1 percentile made 4.26 billion won (US $4.06 million) on average in 2016. Ninety percent of them made 8.7 million won (US $7,682) in the same period.

For models, 82 in the highest 1 percent earned 544 million won (US $480,390). For 90 percent, income stopped at just 2.7 million won (US $2,384).

Income difference was also wide between genders. In the case of male actors, the annual average earnings came to 47 million won (US $41,504), higher than 37 million won (US $32,673) for females. Among singers, males on average made 112 million won (US $98,903) compared with 40 million won (US $35,322) by their female counterparts.



Currency conversions courtesy of Goggle.

source: Yonhap News

Comments

[donaldjdrumpf.livejournal.com]

BTS as a group probably made more money than EXO last year but soon EXO will have less members than BTS so their income will be divided less.

[normanikordei.livejournal.com]

you're wrong on so many levels lol

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

Lmao

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

Donald, king of understanding complex financial issues when will ur president?!

[donaldjdrumpf.livejournal.com]

MTE!

[welljustguess.livejournal.com]

HA

[normanikordei.livejournal.com]

158 actors but only 46 singers yikes. idols who don't have cf deals or tour probably make pennies.

not surprised by the models either, the money in that industry comes from doing big campaigns and only a select few land those.

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

I think this is the case everywhere not just SK

[black-swan87.livejournal.com]

They must have next level shitty record deals over there because even a flop can make a decent amount over here

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the income including CFs and other gigs or mainly come from their sole income in acting or singing. Because if its include the other income they get, then its pretty low.

And about the difference in male and female earnings, its kind of expected as well since if you looked at highest grossing Korean films of all time, it is overwhelmingly male dominated industry. Female centered movies only contribute like probably 5/10% of the whole list.. :(

[rainstormraider.livejournal.com]

Does this include endorsements?
If yes, DAMN this is shitty.

Also was there a recent post about how Korean streaming sites like Melon owed artists like billions of wons,or am I imagining that?

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

US $2,384 a year?!!??

[donaldjdrumpf.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the room & board/dorm expenses are paid by the agency... but yea, still lol

[kenziekinz09.livejournal.com]

This is probably their income after the company takes all their expenses (room & board included) out.

[kukamine.livejournal.com]

wow, most people in the entertainment industry are making pennies
I don't want to be rude but the fact that a list actors only make 1 mil annually compared to a list actors in the US who make 20 mil minimum shouldn't surprise me (because the korean market is smaller compared the US) but it does.

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

Yeah aspiring actors/actresses in US have to work part time gigs just to make a living.

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

Hey, this just made me think, how do idols pay taxes on their income that the agencies take to pay off their debt? Do they have to pay taxes on the money that goes towards paying off their debt, or are the agencies able to structure their contracts in a way do that they don't have to pay taxes on that money? b/c it would be really shitty to have to pay taxes on money that you don't eve get to see. Trainee debt and idol contracts are so messed up.

[meyouthisthat.livejournal.com]

This does make me wonder... all the actors/singers/models (trainees + already debuted) that are hiding in the basements of their companies... how do they actually make a living??

I follow a few models who rarely land campaigns (even small ones) and who only appear during seoul fashion week - and for only a few shows... and that's the max they do the entire year. plus they are from large companies (sidushq etc) and are bound by contracts - it just always makes me wonder how does anyone like that get by. cause they probably aren't earning much, if at all. =/

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

probably living with their parents and only earning enough for spending money

[meyouthisthat.livejournal.com]

true that... wonder how it feels like for them though; to be almost like 30 and still not really financially independent. i know it'd frustrate me sooo much to be in that position.