Large companies like SM, JYP, YG and DSP Entertainment dominate Korea's Entertainment Industry and are the main cause for the mistreatment and abuse of their artists. Let me walk you through the different ways these companies exploit their idols and what it is like to become a Korean idol.
First of all you sign a contract with the company of your choice.... you usually sign the contract when you are still in school at around the age of 10 to 16. Your company then forces you to enroll into hogwons ("star academies") which cost you around 500, 000 to 2, 000, 000 won per a month (US $ 1 = W 1, 137)(Extra!Korea, 2010). You will have to attend these academies anywhere between 4 to 5 years on average before you debut (though some artists have admitted to training for up to 8 years). But you may not debut at all and in that case you just racked up a debt of millions of dollars and wasted years of your life.....
During your training process you must live in a boarding house with your colleagues (or rivals) so you better get along cause your stuck together for years. You also must go on a strict diet with regular weight checks and you have to put in a minimum of 10 hours of practice a day.
To get an idea of how much you will be eating here is a list of REAL diets that idols have been on
-Lettuce and water diet
-Sweet potato and bean milk
- 2 blocks of tofu
- 5 days of water
- Don't eat dinner
- Eggs and sweet potatoes
(YouTube, 2013)
Let's hope that bottle of water you drunk gives you enough energy to survive your 12 hour training session of dance!
Also remember when you register to be a trainee at your company... in your contract you basically agreed to all restrictions and rules that your company gives you.
In other words that means you are forbidden from having any boyfriends/girlfriends; The girl group 2NE1 has the exact same restriction.... even though the artists are in there mid 20's (Extra!Korea, 2010). Guess you get to sing about love but you can't actually experience it for yourself.
Also you can kiss your mobile goodbye. The girl group After School were forbidden from possessing mobiles even though they constantly appeared in commercials for cell phones.... talk about irony.
On the mention of beauty sleep you won't be getting much of that now you are an idol. “The toughest part is getting only five hours of sleep,” said a 16-year-old student. “I feel like I’m in hell every time I get up in the morning.” (Extra! Korea, 2010). There are real reports of idols falling asleep on national television and in toilet cubicles because they are so tired. Leader of After School said “UEE only got 1-2 hours of sleep daily because of all her drama filmings, After School activities, and dance practices. Because of that, she falls asleep as soon as she gets home.” (Extra!Korea, 2010). I mean this is ridiculous! Yeah people fall asleep watching movies or reading books but not on toilets! These idols are so fatigued they get hospitalized because of this mistreatment.
Your company also controls what you wear....
The group T-ara once had a cute animal concept for one of their songs but they recently revealed that they felt embarrassed to even be wearing that costumes.... “There is something we have to clarify. There are many who raised their doubts about how our stylists are antis. The truth is our codi unnies have no wrong in this. All the costumes were ideas of our boss.” (Extra!Korea, 2010).
They control the dances you perform.....
Ga-In from Brown Eyed Girls was shocked by the choreography for their song 'Abracadabra' (Lander, 2013). She mentioned how the first impression on her was that the dance was to sexy and racy.... causing her to feel ashamed that she would have to perform it in front of millions.
The company is in control of who leads your group....
Jo Kwon from 2AM said that after their first album was released JYP said that he would have to become the leader due to marketing reasons (Extra!Korea, 2010).
Your lyrics and singles.....
Everything about the group Wonder Girls was in control of JYP (Extra!Korea, 2010)..... Girl's Generation admitted recently to not feeling comfortable singing the lyrics to their song 'Oh!' They mentioned how it was to cutesy and embarrassing but the company forced them to perform the single over and over again in front of thousands of fans (Sookyeoung,2009) .
Even you music genre is controlled by your company....
When Wonder Girls was being interviewed it was revealed that one of the members was a big fan of rock rather than the pop style JYP has them performing (Extra!Korea, 2010).
First of all you sign a contract with the company of your choice.... you usually sign the contract when you are still in school at around the age of 10 to 16. Your company then forces you to enroll into hogwons ("star academies") which cost you around 500, 000 to 2, 000, 000 won per a month (US $ 1 = W 1, 137)(Extra!Korea, 2010). You will have to attend these academies anywhere between 4 to 5 years on average before you debut (though some artists have admitted to training for up to 8 years). But you may not debut at all and in that case you just racked up a debt of millions of dollars and wasted years of your life.....
During your training process you must live in a boarding house with your colleagues (or rivals) so you better get along cause your stuck together for years. You also must go on a strict diet with regular weight checks and you have to put in a minimum of 10 hours of practice a day.
To get an idea of how much you will be eating here is a list of REAL diets that idols have been on
-Lettuce and water diet
-Sweet potato and bean milk
- 2 blocks of tofu
- 5 days of water
- Don't eat dinner
- Eggs and sweet potatoes
(YouTube, 2013)
Let's hope that bottle of water you drunk gives you enough energy to survive your 12 hour training session of dance!
Also remember when you register to be a trainee at your company... in your contract you basically agreed to all restrictions and rules that your company gives you.
In other words that means you are forbidden from having any boyfriends/girlfriends; The girl group 2NE1 has the exact same restriction.... even though the artists are in there mid 20's (Extra!Korea, 2010). Guess you get to sing about love but you can't actually experience it for yourself.
Also you can kiss your mobile goodbye. The girl group After School were forbidden from possessing mobiles even though they constantly appeared in commercials for cell phones.... talk about irony.
On the mention of beauty sleep you won't be getting much of that now you are an idol. “The toughest part is getting only five hours of sleep,” said a 16-year-old student. “I feel like I’m in hell every time I get up in the morning.” (Extra! Korea, 2010). There are real reports of idols falling asleep on national television and in toilet cubicles because they are so tired. Leader of After School said “UEE only got 1-2 hours of sleep daily because of all her drama filmings, After School activities, and dance practices. Because of that, she falls asleep as soon as she gets home.” (Extra!Korea, 2010). I mean this is ridiculous! Yeah people fall asleep watching movies or reading books but not on toilets! These idols are so fatigued they get hospitalized because of this mistreatment.
Your company also controls what you wear....
The group T-ara once had a cute animal concept for one of their songs but they recently revealed that they felt embarrassed to even be wearing that costumes.... “There is something we have to clarify. There are many who raised their doubts about how our stylists are antis. The truth is our codi unnies have no wrong in this. All the costumes were ideas of our boss.” (Extra!Korea, 2010).
They control the dances you perform.....
Ga-In from Brown Eyed Girls was shocked by the choreography for their song 'Abracadabra' (Lander, 2013). She mentioned how the first impression on her was that the dance was to sexy and racy.... causing her to feel ashamed that she would have to perform it in front of millions.
The company is in control of who leads your group....
Jo Kwon from 2AM said that after their first album was released JYP said that he would have to become the leader due to marketing reasons (Extra!Korea, 2010).
Your lyrics and singles.....
Everything about the group Wonder Girls was in control of JYP (Extra!Korea, 2010)..... Girl's Generation admitted recently to not feeling comfortable singing the lyrics to their song 'Oh!' They mentioned how it was to cutesy and embarrassing but the company forced them to perform the single over and over again in front of thousands of fans (Sookyeoung,2009) .
Even you music genre is controlled by your company....
When Wonder Girls was being interviewed it was revealed that one of the members was a big fan of rock rather than the pop style JYP has them performing (Extra!Korea, 2010).
If you would like to find out more about why idol's quit the K-pop industry please check out this video done by Eat Your Kimchi
So my final question is do YOU think you could survive in the K-pop Industry?
References
Extra!Korea, 2010, How K-Pop Trainees are (Mis)Treated, viewed 19/10/2014,
http://extrakorea.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/how-k-pop-trainees-are-mistreated/
Lander, M.2013, K-Pop and the Future of Korea, viewed 19/10/2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mimsie-ladner/kpop-korea-music_b_3784115.html
Sookyeong, 2009, K-Pop Idols Singers Trapped in Slave Contracts?, viewed 19/10/2014, http://sookyeong.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/kpop-idols-singers-trapped-in-slave-contracts/
Eat Your Kimchi, 2013, 'Dongho Quit Kpop, and Why We Would Too', YouTube, online video clip, posted 6th November 2013, viewed 19/10/2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-tYOnFFS0E
http://extrakorea.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/how-k-pop-trainees-are-mistreated/
Lander, M.2013, K-Pop and the Future of Korea, viewed 19/10/2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mimsie-ladner/kpop-korea-music_b_3784115.html
Sookyeong, 2009, K-Pop Idols Singers Trapped in Slave Contracts?, viewed 19/10/2014, http://sookyeong.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/kpop-idols-singers-trapped-in-slave-contracts/
Eat Your Kimchi, 2013, 'Dongho Quit Kpop, and Why We Would Too', YouTube, online video clip, posted 6th November 2013, viewed 19/10/2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-tYOnFFS0E