The income earned by domestic artists through their artistic activities over the course of a year has been found to be only around 10 million won. The proportion of full-time artists was also barely above 50%.
According to the '2024 Artisanal Statute Survey' released on the 6th by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in conjunction with the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the average annual income per artist in 2023 was 10.55 million won. This figure is only 41.3% of the average annual income per capita (25.54 million won) for the same year.
The average annual income per household of the surveyed artists was also found to be 45.9 million won, approximately 22 million won less than the average annual income of 67.62 million won per household in our country.
There were also significant income disparities by field. The architecture (42.61 million won), comics (26.84 million won), and broadcasting and entertainment (24.85 million won) sectors earned over 20 million won, while music (9.01 million won), dance (8.02 million won), fine arts (6.03 million won), literature (4.54 million won), and photography (3.34 million won) did not surpass 10 million won.
Consequently, one in two artists is reported to engage in side jobs. The proportion of full-time artists was 52.5%, and among full-time artists, the proportion of freelancers reached 61.7%. Only 29.1% of artists earned copyright income from their own works.
23% of artists reported having experienced a break in their artistic careers of one year or longer. 'Insufficient income from artistic activities' (65.5%) was the primary reason for the interruption in their careers. Cases of career breaks due to childbirth and childcare were also 13.9%.
The proportion of artists who have experience in signing contracts for artistic activities was recorded at 57.3%. In terms of contract signing methods, the rate of written contracts was 86.6%, while verbal contracts accounted for 13.4%. 7.3% of artists reported experiencing unfair contracts, with examples of unfair contract cases including 'pressure to accept terms different from the contract' (63.0%) and 'refusal, delay, or restriction of fair revenue distribution' (38.3%).
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's 'Artisanal Statute Survey' is conducted every three years under the Artist Welfare Act. This year's survey involved one-on-one interviews, online, and phone surveys of 5,059 artists across 17 provinces, conducted over two months from last December to this January. The survey reference point was limited to 2023.