K-Pop Girl Group Leader Exposes Idol Payment Structure

A K-Pop idol who served as a girl group leader talked about the idol payment system and explained why it’s hard for small- and mid-level idols to make money.

On July 6th, Hyebin, originally from the group Momoland, uploaded a video titled “Why Idols Don’t Make Money” on her personal YouTube channel.

She opened by saying, “It’s already been over 10 years since I became an idol. People are probably curious about how much idols actually earn. It seems like a lot, but it’s not.”

Hyebin first explained the idol payment structure, saying, “Except for big agencies, costs for lessons, food, housing, and practice room rentals during the trainee period are charged all at once after debut. In simple terms, it’s a postpaid system. You debut carrying hundreds of millions in debt. People say you make money once you debut, but you only earn money if you become popular.”

She continued, “I was lucky because the company CEO invested everything he had, and Momoland hit first place on a music show within two years of debut. That was a miracle for a small- to mid-tier group. You’d think that means we made money, but that’s not so. Essentially, idols split all costs with the company.”

Hyebin added, “To release one song, you pay tens of millions of won to get the track. Filming a music video can cost hundreds of millions per shoot. Half of these expenses are paid by the members. This means my own money is spent every time we film a music video.”

She went on, “We also split costs for jacket photo shoots, manager salaries, vehicle expenses, and hair and makeup. It took me two years from debut to popularity, during which we filmed four music videos. The company may have invested billions in us, but we don’t get paid until the members repay all that investment.”

Moreover, Hyebin explained, “You might think once we’re popular and regularly doing events and ads, we’d be rich, but that’s not true. The average payment for an idol event is about ₩50.0 million KRW (about $32,700 USD), which sounds like a lot. But half goes to the company, then that amount is divided among nine members. After deducting small expenses, I get about ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,310 USD) per event.”

She added, “You might think ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,310 USD) for an hour’s performance is good, but it all gets saved and invested into the next music video. So it’s a continuous loss.” Hyebin concluded, “So who makes money as an idol? Only the top 1% of high-earning individuals become trainees, the top 1% of those get to debut, and of those who debut, only the top 1% really make money. I wasn’t part of that 1%.”

Hyebin debuted as a member of Momoland in 2016 and released hits such as “Bboom Bboom” and “BAAM.”