In November, the six members of boy band BAP sued its agency over their seven-year “slave contracts”, claiming each member had been paid only Won18m over two years, despite generating about Won10bn in revenue for the company. “They said, ‘We can’t sign our daughter up to slavery,’” she recalls.ĭespite changes aimed at boosting artists’ rights, controversy over the industry’s restrictive contracts continues.
Five nights open gangnam style professional#
When the time came for Ms Kim to turn professional at SM, her parents baulked at the 13-year contract she was offered in her teens, which would have banned her from working for any other entertainment company during that time and given SM all rights to her name and image, while placing swingeing limits on her share of the band’s earnings. In the days before a performance, dance and singing training would run from 10am till well after midnight. The aspiring performers can be subject to tough training regimes and strict labour contracts, says Stella Kim, an early member of what has become South Korea’s most popular pop group, Girls’ Generation.
One slide breaks down planned releases for the year ahead: one quarter will bring a single from the as yet unannounced “boy band I”, while the next will herald releases from “girl band” and “boy band II”. The companies manage every step of the music-making process - recruiting singers as young as their early teens, and grooming and training them before forming groups from the most talented and marketing them around the world.Ī browse through a JYP investor presentation shows how the industry has taken the concept of the manufactured band to a new level. JYP, for example, was founded by Park Jin-young, a popular singer in 1990s South Korea. Most of the music profits from what has come to be known as the “Korean wave” are taken by a handful of huge production companies, often named after the initials of their former pop star founders. Its international success, along with that of the country’s melodramatic soap operas, reflects the glamorous image of a country that has gone from one of Asia’s poorest states to one of its richest in two generations. With its slickly choreographed videos and addictively energetic sound, K-pop commands obsessive followings across Southeast Asia, China and Japan, and has established firm beachheads in Europe, the US and Latin America.
Psy’s 2012 rap hit Gangnam Style - so popular that it recently forced YouTube to recalibrate its counting system for video views - is only one example of the growing clout of South Korean popular music, which hauled in revenues of Won4.4tn ($4.1bn) in 2013, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency. The stakes are high for these young hopefuls, who have the opportunity to become superstars not only in South Korea but across Asia, and increasingly beyond.