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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:11 am Post subject: K-pop |
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When I heard this video cost more than $100,000 to make, I thought to myself, "How is the k-pop industry able to make a profit? People nowadays illegally download music for free rather than paying for it."
The answer: concert ticket sales.
Look at the concert listing in the most recent SEOUL magazine.
B1A4: 99,000
Brown Eyed Seoul: 88,000-132,000
Teen Top: 77,000-99,000
What is the average price of a ticket? 100,000? How many people would be in attendance for each concert? 5,000? That's roughly 500,000,000 won (half a million dollars). Two thousand fans? $200K. Only a thousand? That's still a lot of money (100,000,000 won).
(B1A4, Brown Eyed Seoul, and Teen Top aren't even top tier acts, too, which is why I was surprised to see such high ticket prices.)
How many people would you estimate are in the audience for kpop concerts?
How often do you think these bands can perform and still draw crowds?
As South Korea is one of the most densely populated countries on earth, travel distance from city to city is not that far.
How costly would it be to put on a concert?
Live instrumentation is generally not used; use of a prerecorded track means there is no (or less) complicated sound checks, micing and transportation of drums, guitars, and amps, etc.
I've noticed a lot of kpop performances on university campuses. How much are universities paying the groups to come? (It's a lot of money I would imagine. The taxes we pay indirectly fund/support kpop in this way; it's weird to think about.)
Speaking of which, did you know the Korean government heavily subsidized entertainment industries (kpop and kdrama) to increase Korea's brand recognition worldwide? (It worked.)
Does anyone know if this is still going on? Is taxpayer money subsidizing kpop, kdrama, kmovies, etc.?
This link makes me think yes (but for direct subsidies I'm not sure).
How much is the kpop industry worth overall do you think?
Record sales were $187.5 million in 2012 (how about 2013?), but there are other streams of revenue. The stars are on TV, in magazines, and make advertisements. I would think there are a lot of people getting rich from kpop.
Two talented producers for creating the addictive songs for idol groups, Brave Brothers andSinsadong Tiger have been receiving much attention lately for sharing their shocking monthly earnings from royalties through KBS’s ‘Win Win’.
Brave Brothers, whose real name is Kang Dong Chul, used to be connected to Korean gangs and had a rough history. He has 12 violent-related crimes on his record and even owned a room salon business once. However, that all changed once he fell in love with Cypress Hill‘s music, he stated that he ended all his relations with organized crime.
On the show, he revealed that his inspirations come from every day life and stated, “I cannot read music. I don’t even know the musical chords.”
Sinsadong Tiger, whose real name is Lee Ho Yang, also reluctantly revealed, “When things go well, I even earn $100,000 a month. However the pay gets reduced each day I rest, so usually it’s around $70,000 to $80,000.”
He then confessed, “I wanted to become a celebrity, an idol singer at first. But I didn’t pass any auditions. Back then was a period when there was no such thing as a Shindong of Super Junior,.” He added, “I did pass into a small entertainment company once. I practiced dancing but I only received requests for composing MR’s for special events. Ever since then I’ve been composing.”
The songs that have earned Brave Brothers the most money are “On a Saturday night” by Son Dambi, which he claimed to have composed in just ten minutes and After School‘s “Because of You”. For Sinsadong Tiger, the songs are “Bo Peep Bo Peep” by T-ara, “Fiction” by B2ST and “Muzik” by4Minute. He then added that when Kim Jong-gook's "Pick Her Up" was chosen to be used in a commercial, it was worth several songs.
Kahi of After School was a surprise guest, and she revealed a past conversation she had with Brave Brother regarding his monthly salary. She had asked him how much he made a month, to receive a vague answer of "Two bills!". She pressed further, "2 million won?" (roughly $1,800). The BraveBrother scoffed, "Are you kidding me?!" Kahi revealed that she thinks he had meant not even just 200 million won (roughly $175,000), but 2 billion won (roughly $1.8 million).
On the show, the Brave Brother admitted to earning about 5 billion won (about $4.4 million) over the past four years. This is after various production costs are subtracted from his gross monthly pay.
Brave Brothers (real name Kang Dong Chul) appeared on the episode of “Beatles Code” that aired on Mnet on June 23rd and said that after producing hits like Lexy’s “Above the Sky”, Son Dambi’s “Crazy” and Brown Eyed Girl’s “How”, he earned 10 billion in royalties.
On the other hand, Big Bang’s Seungri also attracted attention for uncovering G-Dragon’s royalties last month, on the same program.
He attracted much attention when he went on the April 20 broadcast of SBS’s “Go Show” and stated, “I’m in charge of songwriting despite my young age. My songwriting royalties are enormous.” It has become known that G-Dragon makes over a billion won a year in royalties.
On last year’s July 13 broadcast of MBC’s “Golden Fishery: Radio Star,” Yong Jun Hyung was established as the highest earning member of BEAST due to his songwriting.
On the show, Yong Jun Hyung was asked whether the royalties for his songwriting was a comfortable amount, to which he answered “to the point it’s overwhelming”. Yong Jun Hyung currently has 29 songs registered with the Korea Music Copyright Association (KMCA).
On the May 31 broadcast of KBS 2TV’s “Happy Together 3,” actor Lee Ji Hoon announced that Kangta’s nickname is “Money King”.
With over a hundred songs registered with the KMCA, Kangta reportedly makes an annual income of at least 500 million won from royalties.
Lee Ji Hoon continued to reveal, “whether we drink or eat, Kangta pays for it often. Kangta’s nickname is ‘Money King’. He’s been writing songs since he was young, and so makes a lot in royalties. He uses this money as if it were his allowance. The money that comes in every month is a tremendous amount.”
Those article excerpts are (the most recent I could find but) a couple years old. Since then the kpop industry has grown/become even more popular overseas. It's possible (even quite likely) those dudes are making significantly more per month now. Brave Brothers is pumping out songs like crazy nowadays. I see so many comments online by kpop fans saying his music is stale because it sounds too similar to past songs he's done BUT he is in demand as a producer. He is making songs with the biggest names in kpop. The biggest names in kpop want HIM.
I was thinking to myself about opportunities to make money in the kpop industry. Being a foreigner would be problematic but there's a chance it could also be advantageous. I remember being offered free kpop tickets (free for me while others have to pay $100) almost certainly because I have white skin. I was encouraged to bring friends- foreign friends. Wow, front row seats in exchange for lingering close up head shots of me watching the concert (to show Koreans how popular kpop is in the West).
When I saw this, my eyes lit up with dollar signs:
| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| My only problem with Simon and Martina is that I just find it impossible to believe that two seemingly intelligent, university educated adults could, hand on heart, really like any of that music. Which leads me to the conclusion that they are taking advantage of the fact that Koreans are so desperate for Westerners to like their pop music, anyone who pretends to be into it to that extent can make a killing. I think they're clever but very cynical. |
I wonder how much easier it would be to make it as a music producer in Korea versus our home countries. Songs coming out of the United States have better overall production. Competition there would be greater. Although America has the world's biggest music market, it is over saturated with producers and wannabe producers (as the market shrinks). I watched a video from a music producer answering the question about how producers should react to the evolving landscape. He recommended producing music for emerging industries such as China. He said China is trying to put out decent sounding pop songs and needs help doing so.
Do you think it's possible a music producer who wouldn't have been able to make it in his/her own country would be able to find success in Korea?
I think maybe yes.
Obstacles:
-The Korean language. It's really tough. Most people I know who live here (including long term expats) can't speak it. How long would it take to get to a functional level? (Studying the language takes time away from perfecting one's craft- in this case music- so it's a big factor to consider.)
-Visa issues. The F visa would be needed/advantageous.
Possible advantages:
Koreans dream of breaking into/ making it big in the American music market (the largest music market in the world). Maybe they think a genuine American could help with that. If a Western producer became an in house producer he/she would be the first. There would be novelty. Maybe (probably) that person would get TV interviews.
Problems: Being able to converse even fairly well in Korean is a monumental task. How long would it take a monolingual adult to reach this level? In my opinion, it varies person to person. Is it possible for everyone, provided they put in the time? Honestly, I don't know, and that questions really troubles me. I ask myself, "How long will it take before I could become semi-decent in the language? Is it even doable? What is the highest end point I could achieve/should I aim for, and how long would it take to get there?" These thoughts really trouble me. It is vexing beyond belief. Even if I could become semi-able (and that's a really big if), there's still the issue of getting into the music business/being paid to make/compose, which is super difficult to achieve. For one, there are gyopos who will be able to speak the language and understand the culture better than I ever would. Next, loads of Koreans start music lessons (usually piano) at a very young age. I would think there are many, many technically skilled musicians in South Korea. Still, I think popular songs coming out in Korea, though very good, are musically inferior to what is coming out in America. For this reason, I think it would be possible for a person to find success in Korea that would be unattainable/less likely in one's home country. What do you guys think about that?
Certainly the musicianship/standards for what it takes to make a hit song are going up. (And part of the reason for this is songs rejected by American artists are being sold to kpop companies.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBjETYX1awQ
I watched a kpop documentary that said five years ago if a worker at a kpop company received a call from overseas, they would just hang up on the person on the other line because no one in the office could understand English. Now, there is cross country cooperation, with American and European songwriters composing much of the music, and American choreographers creating many of the dance moves.
The kpop industry is becoming more international. It is a growing industry. (It is a good business to get into.)
From 2012 (more than a quadrupling in just three years time):
The Korea Music Copyright Association on Sunday said it calculated the data from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers and tallied last year’s royalties at W11.03 billion, the first time they exceeded W10 billion.
The money is generated from Korean songs being played and sung in concerts, TV and radio programs as well as karaoke bars. It amounts to about 10 percent of royalties earned at home during the same period.
Royalties for K-pop from Japan have sharply increased from W2.4 billion in 2009.
TV and radio broadcasting generated 75 percent of the money, and most of that was from the original soundtracks of TV series. Twenty-eight Korean soap operas aired on terrestrial channels in Japan last year, and 42 on cable channels.
K-pop stars such as Kara, Jang Geun-seok, TVXQ and Girls’ Generation made over 90 appearances on terrestrial and cable channels to sing their songs and Korean music shows also became a regular feature of Japanese TV programming.
Some 11 percent of the royalties came from karaoke bars, and 7 percent from mobile phone services.
KOMCA said the royalties earned in Japan are incomparably bigger than the W137 million earned in Hong Kong, W130 million in Taiwan, W100 million in Singaporeand W58 million in the U.S.
But the association warned that growing animosity between Japan and Korea over Dokdo and other issues could hurt profits in the future.
According to CJ E&M, a major media company in Seoul that produces the reality show Superstar K, record sales account for about 40% of the major management companies’ revenue. The other 60% comes from having their stars appear on everything from energy-drink labels to soap operas.
The limited revenue stream from record sales is part of the reason that Seoul’s “Big Three” management companies — JYP, YG and S.M. — have been making moves to break into Latin America, Europe and North America. If the rice towers at the Big Bang show are any indication, they’re on the right track. Fans from over 60 countries donated rice to the show last week. The rise in international donations, says Roh, has been “very dramatic.” The question he cannot answer is what kids in Kuwait love about K-pop. “I don’t know,” he says, laughing. “I was going to ask you the same thing.” |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm going to read that. Thanks for posting.  |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Whats the opinion here?
K-pop makes a lot of money by gouging their fans?
Side note, what the Korean artists make pales in comparison to their American counter parts. Go check out the earnings for the people in the top 10-20 on the US charts that have been popular for a few years / decade. |
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optik404
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I think it's known that artists make most of their money from concert ticket sales. Which is why they've gone up like 400% in the past ten years. |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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| That video also has 20 million views on Youtube, and more elsewhere I'm sure. That's a sizable chunk of ad revenue right there. |
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aq8knyus
Joined: 28 Jul 2010
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:14 am Post subject: |
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The part about Japan was spot on.
The Korean music market is too small to support the Kpop industry, they need a music market as big as Japan to sustain profits. |
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Speck7
Joined: 05 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:45 am Post subject: |
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TL/DR
Got through 3 sentences and that's it.
Was it worth writing that much? Really? |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Speck7 wrote: |
TL/DR
Got through 3 sentences and that's it.
Was it worth writing that much? Really? |
^ TL/DR
Reading stuff is hard. |
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actionjackson
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Location: Any place I'm at
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| optik404 wrote: |
| Yeah, I think it's known that artists make most of their money from concert ticket sales. Which is why they've gone up like 400% in the past ten years. |
Don't forget endorsements. I remember reading some where that Psy made more from endorsements than he did from Gangnam style. |
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