Ex-Girl Group Member Reveals Idols Often Debut in Debt, Only Top 1% Earn Profit

Hyebin, a former member of the K-pop group Momoland, has shed light on the often-unseen financial struggles faced by idols, revealing that most earn very little, with only the top 1% achieving significant financial success.

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I've been an idol for over 10 years. Many people must be curious about how much idols earn. You might think they earn a lot, but that's not the case.

In a YouTube video titled 'Why Idols Don't Make Money,' Hyebin, who has been in the industry for over a decade, explained the complex settlement structure. She stated that upon debuting, idols are charged for all expenses incurred during their trainee period, including lessons, food, and accommodation, often resulting in a debt of several hundred million won (equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars).

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When you debut, all the lesson fees, food expenses, accommodation fees, and practice room rental fees from your trainee days are charged back to you. So you debut with a debt of several hundred million won.

Even after achieving success, like winning first place on music shows, immediate profit is not guaranteed. Hyebin detailed how costs for music production, music videos, manager salaries, transportation, and beauty expenses are split between the company and the group members. For instance, a music video costing hundreds of millions of won is split in half with the company, and then divided among the members, meaning each member could be responsible for tens of millions of won for a single video.

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Idols share all costs with the company on an N-way split. This includes music costs, music videos, manager salaries, gas, and hair/makeup expenses.

Event revenue also follows a similar pattern. While an event might bring in around 50 million won, this is split with the company, then divided among members, and further reduced by costs for hair, makeup, stylists, and transportation. This leaves an individual member with approximately 2 million won per event, which is often reinvested into future projects like music videos. Hyebin concluded that only the top 1% of trainees become idols, and only the top 1% of those debut, with just the elite 1% of debuted idols managing to earn substantial money.

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For example, each music video costs hundreds of millions of won, which is split in half with the company, and then divided by N members. So, I personally lose tens of millions of won for one music video.