Hyebin, formerly of the group Momoland, mentioned idol accounting structures and explained why it is difficult for small and mid-sized idols to make money.
On the 6th, Hyebin posted a video titled "why idols don't make money" on her personal YouTube channel "Myoh Hyebin."
That day Hyebin opened her remarks saying, "It's already been more than 10 years since I became an idol. You might be curious how much idols actually make. It may seem like a lot, but it's not."
Hyebin first explained the idol accounting structure, saying, "Except for the large agencies, lessons, food, housing, and practice room rental costs used during trainee days are all billed after debut. To put it simply, it's paid afterward. You debut with debts of several hundred million won. People ask if you still make money after debuting, but you have to become famous to make money."
She continued, "Still, I'm quite fortunate that the company CEO scraped together all his assets and Momoland hit first place on music shows within two years of debut. At the time it was a miracle for a mid-sized idol. So people ask, 'If you became famous, wouldn't you make money?' but that's not the case. Basically idols split all costs with the company."
Hyebin said, "To release one song you pay tens of millions of won to acquire a track. Filming a music video can cost several hundred million won per piece. Half of that is paid by the members. Every time we film a music video, my money is spent."
She added, "We split jacket shoots, manager salaries, vehicle use fees, and hair and makeup costs. It took me two years from debut to become popular, and we filmed four music videos," lamenting, "The company must have invested several billion won in us, but accounting isn't settled until the members pay it all back."
Hyebin explained, "You'd think that once you're famous you could steadily do events or commercials and become rich, but that's not the case. The average event fee for an idol is about 50 million won, which sounds like a lot. But first you split that 50 million won with the company, and if there are nine members you then divide the remainder by nine. After subtracting small expenses, I get about 2 million won per event."
Hyebin said, "You might think it's 2 million won for an hour of performing cute antics, but it's saved up and invested in the next music video. Then it's a minus again," adding, "So who are the idols that make money? Among ordinary people, the top 1% of trendsetters become idol trainees, of those the top 1% debut, and of those who debut only the top 1% make money. I was not in that 1%."
Meanwhile, Hyebin debuted with Momoland in 2016 and released hit songs such as "Bboom Bboom" and "BAAM."
[photo] OSEN DB, YouTube capture
[OSEN]