Are young Korean music superstars financially wealthy?

Question by Hilda: Are young Korean music superstars financially wealthy?
I am referring to major music artists such as members of successful music groups such Super Junior, DBSK, 2PM, SS501, etc but mostly those that are concentrated in Asia and are not internationally known such as BoA. I have read that the music companies that these music groups belong to mostly exploit the members to make money, which is typical of any entertainment company, but the question is whether or not these members get their fair share of the wealth? In America, music superstars become millionaires and are set for life, could the same be said about Korean music stars?

Best answer:

Answer by RIP 박용하 ㅠㅠ
Definitely not. Compared to American movie stars and singers, Korean singers get verrrry little. I’d be willing to bet someone like Jennifer Aniston gets more from one photoshoot than what TVXQ or Super Junior get from entire album sales… which is sad, but the truth. You’re right. Many entertainment companies do exploit their artists… In particular, SM is dealing with a lawsuit right now from three of the TVXQ members for many reasons but one of them being that they get paid next to nothing for their work. In short, they may get what we commoners may call a good sum of money but not nearly as much as they are actually worth. SM is known for doing this with all of their artists. I’m not a fan of SM artists but I have to give credit where it’s due; many of them are really talented, they rake in big bucks, but their contracts are “slave” contracts that restrict them from many aspects of the business and give them very little of the profit they earn.
Park Jin Young of JYP entertainment has addressed this before… He said that almost all of the profit earned from his artists go back to them in the form of album preparations, staff pay, etc. etc. He said that very little is really left over and he also said that this is the case with all entertainment companies out there…
Really, for all the time and effort some of these artists put in, they should be paid a LOT more.

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