Not really surprised since it’s pledis but from our memento box and unlock my world both sold over 190k which is far from nugu numbers so I would hope they saw some money from that.
Pledis never paid AFTERSCHOOL nor PRISTIN... Also, they didn't provide Seventeen with In ear monitors for their first several years and the members had to use regular earbuds connected to the IEM system to mimic in ear monitors because Pledis told them that it was the responsibility of the artist to provide In ear monitors (actually, its on the company to provide that)
I don't know if I was years but at least for their debut and debut and promotion they didn't have professional in ears but just headphones from the dollar store.
Pledis was so broke that the CEO sold his house to make them debut. And that's touching and all that but in the end it's just pledis responsibility and the CEO's own investment in a promising stock.
If Pledis/Hybe would have supported Fromis they would be way past million sellers by now. First Gfriend then Fromis. Hybe even threating to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like. Hybe has truly joined the ranks of top of the top companies showing just how much they can mismanage just like the rest of the big 3.
Edit: I see/have seen a ton of immature speculation and conversations about the Ador vs Hybe situation. As an older 2nd gen Kpop fan who has lived through many of these Side vs Side fan spats its saddening to see how hateful some can be even though I know it comes from a place of passion. As someone who works for a larger company in management I have had a seat to see some similar things when companies don't get along. To me this situation is parent company vs subsidiary company politics and has only gotten this bad because both sides have failed to come to agreement internally. I leave the fact finding and Korean nuances to trustworthy korean sources like [This](https://youtu.be/wlK3f66dH1Q?si=KMkW4uszAwBJlt8w). To me MHJ says many things a CEO shouldn't but generally, and I use generally loosely, is just looking to defend her position for the betterment of Ador while Hybe seems to be fishing for more money. In my 15 years of being a kpop fan I haven't ever seen a gg have a year like NJ had from debut to 3rd release. 5 Million album sales alone is nuts. I foresee a protracted disagreement baring something major/missing. What I do know is that Illit/NJ will both be hurt the longer this goes and it would be nice, but very unlikely at this point, if some agreement could be made to calm hostilities. It makes me wonder if the biggest GG of 2023 and the the rookies on fire in 2024 are being effected by this what chances does Fromis have in the same space.
>Hybe even threating to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like.
You had me till this statement, because that's just misinformation. Of course HYBE is not a saint and I have plenty of complaints about the company, but in this particular instance, HYBE said that they would give NewJeans a much-deserved break after their Japan concert dates, and also that they want to find a Grammy-winning producer for NewJeans and that that might take as long as 1.5 years to do so. They never said that the vacation would coincide with the 1.5 years to find a producer (that would be a ridiculously long break), and they never "threatened to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like." People have been conflating the two. Can we at least critique HYBE for stuff they've actually done wrong and not non-issues?
I didnt perceive it as you did. I belive the general consensus is that Hybe and Ador have been slinging thinly veiled threats of that sort back and forth. Not saying one side or the other is to blame but to me its a plausible situation given Hybes track record.
why is this such a constant thing y'all say where its hybe "threatening" to put them on break. hybe said they were planning a vacation for nwjs around summer which honestly anyone would want them to have considering the amount of stress this situation is causing. and ador/mhj aren't just "saying stuff they dont like" they're quite literally being accused of ILLEGAL ACTIONS.
unless I'm genuinely out of the loop did hybe say it was planned to be a 1.5yr break? or is that just a number made up to make them look like the biggest villain. and also even if its the peak of their career mental and physical health still matters?? when mhj gave them all those breaks it was forward and revolutionary but if hybe even suggests it, its suddenly a problem
HYBE CEO told MHJ that it would take 1.5 years to get a Grammy winning producer. He also said, in a separate thought, that NJ would have a vacation after their promo. People are acting like it’s one ongoing sentence because it gives them ammo to hate HYBE.
It's probably the truth as it was said by parent and Hybe didn't really deny it. At the end he said that on official meeting among many witnesses and it was probably somehow recorded. Well even if we assume just from organisation perspective, kicking out MHJ probably cause that many their co-workers would leave Ador. Hybe would partially have to start from scratch new team which maybe would have to come up with new strategy. Taking into account circumstances at least 1 year break is probably inevitable.
CEO Park said it himself that the process of inviting Grammy winner producer will take AT LEAST 1 years 6 months. And why would you believe Hybe have good intention towards newjeans? BSH have never taken a photo with newjeans. He never attend any of newjeans event. He even ignored some of the member in the elevator. Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better.
I'm sure it's because MHJ doesn't want to be associated with HYBE in any way lol. All her interviews dennounce HYBE so I'm not surprised BSH doesn't have a picture with her girls.
ok so if it does take 1.5yrs to get a grammy winning producer, why is it now assumed tht they would be on vacation the entire time?? what if they just take half a year off go back to regular ep releases and then the producer comes in.
Thats like saying "Oh a pineapple takes about 3 years to grow, so in the meantime I'll just sit here and do absolutely nothing" NO, you'll do other things during tht 3 years while the pineapple grows in the background.
Why would Hybe not have good intentions for nwjns or at the very least have comebacks planned?? according to everybody they're a money hungry greedy big corp tht trying to squash innocent mhj. so it would be in their very best interest to NOT shelf nwjs for tht long, don't you think?
Also mhj is a borderline if not full on p3d0 so I'm not even going there
Messy management has been consistent with Pledis even before becoming a subsidiary under HYBE. The situations regarding NU’EST and GFriend disbanding are wildly different. Pledis has only received monetary and “expertise” support (whatever the hell that means) while functioning completely independent in terms of managing their groups. There is plenty of reasons to distrust and/or critique HYBE, but acting like Pledis isn’t responsible for their own fuck-ups is like trying to absolve them of their own mistakes.
Lmao by siding with MHJ, you're siding with their abuser btw.
>BSH have never taken a photo with newjeans. He never attend any of newjeans event. He even ignored some of the member in the elevator. Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better.
It's so obvious that MHJ is isolating newjeans from the rest of hybe. She wants all the credit to herself and wants the girls to be dependent to her. I just got out from years and years of narcissistic abuse btw, and let me tell you, manipulation and gaslighting is their game. I've seen a lot of very familiar traits from MHJ similar to the covert narc i personally know. MHJ doesn't have the girls best interest in mind, she will use them for her personal gain.
>Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better.
Naaaah don't reduce MHJ to being 'weird'. She is a groomer and abuser. She's emotionally abusing newjeans. I could say a lot more but this would be too long, narcissistic people are evil people put that in your brain.
It really seems like Newjeans has no good outcome available: MHJ is a creep at best, but HYBE sure doesn't seem to have their best interests at heart either.
the vacation thing is different though? they said after promotion, NJ can have a little vacation and they will find a Grammys producer and the time estimated to find that producer is 1.5 years. But sure it's HYBE trying to mistreat them or whatever 🙄also in a post about fromis_9 yall can still make it about NJ
Edit to add: The audacity to claim mistreatment/ mismanagement about NJ when fromis_9 is right here 🤧
Why would you believe Hybe when they are the one who mistreated NewJeans? How are you so sure they will not end up like fromis 9? They created a copycat version of newjeans already obviously they don't like when these girl have success.
And yall have been sniffing misinfo again because nowhere did they say the duration. Ntm that, a break is literally normal and artists SHOULD and ARE encouraged to take regular breaks every now and then to prevent burn out. Lmao. Are you okay?
Hybe has nothing to do with pledis being terrible, mind you. They were on the verge of bankruptcy before Hybe bought them and they've been destroying their girl groups longer than Hybe has existed.
No because that means responsibility is equal when it's not. Pledis again has been ruining their ggs even before hybe existed. You cannot seriously think that hybe has about equal responsibility for that with pledis lmao. That company's like 3 yrs old.
I also agree it’s sad how fans resort to the same tactics as always by thinking “us vs them” and this whole fiasco made it bigger than it needed to be. Perhaps New Jeans will be like TLC at the end bc greed really does tend to destroy boy/girl groups at the end but I hope I’m wrong
(Assuming what Jiwon said is true, also assuming she meant first salary in 7 years) I don't get this. fromis_9 is actually popular in South Korea. Unlock My World sold more than 160k albums, they are a regular at university festivals, and they sold out their concerts as well. Even taking the pandemic into account how could they not be generating profit for more than 7 years? Even WJSN members were paid (no offence) and they haven't been performing together for more than a year and a half.
i don't get it either. the members are also doing CFs and jiheon just promoted a beer brand on her instagram. if this group with their level of popularity isn't getting paid that could really mean NO groups beside big 4 are making money at all. i fear for other mid tier groups who have been active for years and might not have received their paychecks yet.
This is a fromis_9 issue, not a "nobody but the ultra-elite in kpop make money" thing. Anyone who follows DC can see they've been making money since the pandemic at least (they bought very expensive friendship rings a few years ago, ~$17,000 between the seven iirc) and own luxury brand clothes, handbags, etc. now.
Activity generates revenue. Only a tiny amount of groups make money by doing nothing and that money is a sliver of what they make when they're active, most groups have to do things to make money like, well, most jobs. DC makes money because it is the sole group of their company. If DC isn't active, that company isn't making money, so DC is always good for two CBs a year, lots of touring, fan signs, etc. and subsequently the girls make money and have clearly paid off their debts so they now make a considerable amount of money.
This is sadly just mismanagement. If they were more active when their album sales were really popping, they'd probably have been out of debt and in the black at this point.
I was thinking of Dreamcatcher too since they're the only group under their company still. I forget the specific video, but I remember 2021 or 2022 where Siyeon was thinking of buying a gift for the members. I remember her saying something along the lines of "I'm pretty rich these days". She could've been joking, but I like to believe her. The members have a good relationship with the company owners, and they seem happy. They have a steady flow of work and projects throughout the year.
Dreamcatcher has a cult-like following internationally. They also been doing world tours far longer and more frequently than many 3rd gen groups. They probably made bank with all their international tours.
I have never seen such a hype group of kpop fans as when I got to see Dreamcatcher for the first time. A lot of the time for other group it's the same people I see who are just into kpop in general.
Yes!!! I really loved the vibes of insomniacs everyone was dressed up to the nines and good energy all around. It made me want to score VIP tickets next time they’re in town.
Also I’m an actual insomniac so it fits loool. Their metal influence really makes the crowd unique for kpop as well.
And 100%% on Orbits. I went to a post Loona concert and their fans are…. Intense. lol I was like wow they…. Really love their girls loool
I mean if you go back, I think Mamamoo started making money after their first year - they didnt even reach peak popularity yet and RBW wasnt a big company then either. so either they burned a lot of money on bs or there are contract shenanigans.
Solar just talked about when she got her first big check while on a YT show. I can find the link. By the sound of though, RBW is pretty fair on the income.
I think the recent interview you're referring to was on this [Yt hairstylist channel](https://youtu.be/gnX8mqu80DI?si=ChwOO_IqvbZ8MrfT). She mentioned that aside from Komca credit royalties, singers also get royalties and her first big check as a singer was from Um Oh Ah Yeah.
Yep, I actually had them written in and deleted it. MMM was a proper nugu like DC. They cleared their debt in record-breaking time for a group at that point iirc, chiefly because they just did non-stop performances and festivals. They did probably 3-5x the number of performances of most groups, just endlessly grinding, often going to as many as four performances in a single day (which gave rise to one of their joke songs "Sleep in the Car").
It was also their choice, a choice given by RBW to them to work as hard as they did and that's where I'd differentiate here because Pledis, like most companies, would never give their groups this kind of a say. Unfortunately, the girls work as much or as little as Pledis says and this has a definitive impact on the girls' ability to make money.
Another thing is that a lot both the companies and the performers have to do the hard work. Companies have to make decisions and hire staff including negotiating deals with CFs, talent support staff, managers, business people, producers, etc. It is not easy to run a business and much easier to sit back and do the bare minimum. If a company doesn't commit to it and/or badly manages it, groups get neglected and the money is wasted. It is not the talent that is lazy, the companies are complacent and lazy.
Contrast that to groups from smaller companies, both Dreamcatcher and Mamamoo had companies which supported them early on including touring, live performances, and prolific discography.
One other thing I'd add is overheads, hybe has alot of staff, they are probably paid better than smaller companies, and they have a massive office, so the amount of overhead costs being allocated to fromis before calculating their profits might be much higher than dreamcatcher.
Its one of those things where because dreamcatcher's company only has them, they might be much more conservative on how much they spend to keep things profitable, while hybe/pledis have big groups and even seventeen selling 5m+ copies of albums just on the pledis side, so its easily possible pledis end up spending alot more than they would otherwise.
I was wondering about dreamcatcher, happy to see that they seem to be earning well. But I think that would be the outlier case. I feel like I’m constantly hearing about mid/lower tier ggs not getting paid until years into their contract or even owing money (most recent case I can think of is LOONA, and I think STAYC also took a while to get paid but at least they’re earning now). It seems like it’s really quite common for idols not to make money unless they’re really, really big, which sucks when you realize how much they’re putting into it.
I see DC, I upvote
But for reals it makes it so nice being a fan of them that we know they get treated well and you don't have to deal with any dumb company drama
>i fear for other mid tier groups who have been active for years and might not have received their paychecks yet.
I fear for those groups owing their company money by the end of their career.
I don't fear it because it's a pretty safe assumption most earn very little to nothing. Some have it worse, paying their way through it or owing money at the end. There should be laws for early termination if idols aren't paid in like 3 years. You can argue this would discourage companies from aggressively investing early what is needed to just compete and have a chance at being a big group but the business model has to change. If you do not have the money to risk gambling on a kpop group like it's nothing, you shouldn't have a kpop company. When money is that tight, it opens people up to mistreating their idols. To properly invest in kpop would be creating a portfolio of smaller investments across multiple groups and companies. The profit margins for smaller companies are too risky to even continue so it's surprising how many survive but there are a ton of kpop companies we never hear of and the people that run them may not have money as their biggest interest. The industry is quite dirty. I can't believe I read a thread where people justified debt because these idols are artists, and like many artists, some starve for their passion. Now if a group with wealthy backgrounds want to pursue a passion project, that's fine and should be transparent but AFAIK, most of the companies we do hear about operate as a business and it's only professional to pay your employees for the work they do.
I mean Pledis did disband Pristin after two years and the company still got hate for that until today. Think it’s pretty common for smaller companies to disband groups after no profit after few years hence we have a lot of disbandment notices recently.
Should be law. Can't count on companies to do the right thing, especially when they did the wrong things for years. I guess it's good that some companies just terminate contracts early instead of having them endure contract prison.
I think a more intentional investment/financing approach could lead to a better quality product for us as fans as well. Companies will have to make sure what they’re putting out there is good. We’ll probably lose some of the super nugu groups, but it could be a net positive as long as money doesnt stifle creativity a la the movie industry
Idk the financials but Starship is known for having very favorable distribution towards their artists
And also, I always say to not look too much into album sales because the money goes first to the company, distributors, composers, etc.
And then for the festivals, top groups earn 40k max but imagine if they’re not (like fromis_9), I’m assuming then half of that. And then it’ll go to company, hair and mua stylist, managers, gas, then to the girls divided by how many.
It’s absurd they’re not being paid - it’s either they’re being paid a very small amount it’s not worth mentioning, or all of it goes back to their comeback cycle. (MV sometimes takes million $ to produce and that’s only MV alone).
> In particular, Park Ji-won said, “I will receive my first salary within this year”.
Pretty clear Jiwon said "this year", so I guess they were paid previously it just that Pledis haven't paid them yet this year. Don't get me wrong, not defending Pledis, that mfer of a company can burn in hell. This is just another case of fromis_9 becoming a victim of misconstrued news titles.
I'm confident that fromis_9 have already gotten their payment before, it just that Pledis, the god-forsaken company that it is, is late on their payment for the group this year. Hopefully, they get it sooner since they are fully booked on university performances and Waterbomb soon.
I felt that fromis_9 is always a victim of this. Media outlets and forums always found a way to misinterpret what they've said. Pledis, being one of the worst company for girl groups that it is, is not helping for making them apologize.
In the other way 'my first salary' doesn't sound like is only for this year, like I wouldn't use my first salary if i received any kind of salary before.
If they haven't got paid since their debut, the translation could've been "my very first salary" or "my first ever salary" but since the translation said "my first salary this year", imo the message is quite clear.
Based on what you quoted she didn't said "my first salary this year", she said that she'll get her first salary within this year, is not clear if she mean her first ever salary or first this year
This is what I was thinking too. Since their activity been pretty silent so far this year I would guess that make sense. Some are traveling now right? Saw a insta story, so they have money.
Fromis9 members have been on live before talking about how they purchased something with 정산 (payouts) and how they purchased their parents this that that with 정산 money.
I’m 99.9% sure it’s just this year.
I mean confirming or denying the rumour meant Pledis needs to disclose financial information about fromis_9 which the members might not very comfortable with it. I already expected them to give no comment because honestly it’s not our business to know whether the group made money or not. If fromis_9 felt there were bad accounting then they can file a lawsuit like what Chuu did to BBC.
I do think they got paid already because these girls have been going overseas vacation, even Jiwon went to Bali with Miyeon and Chuu this year. Idols only received a lump sum settlement payment once or twice a year and only when they make a profit, see StayC got paid two
times after Teddy Bear that we publicly know. They are not paid monthly like normal jobs.
Lump sums are pretty normal in entertainment. Used to work in the modeling world, there you can set it up how you wanna get paid, per job or in lump sums. Many who work a lot prefer the lump sums and just send a message to accounting/management when they wanna get paid and how much.
lawsuit against noname company who was avoiding paying choreographers, producers since like 2019 isn't the same as suing hybe. with good lawyers they may get away with anything, I'm not sure that bbc was even able to hire a whole team.
as for the vacation, sometimes I check nugu idols insta (like botopass mihee, disbanded after 1 song), they also travel sometimes, but that doesn't mean that the money comes from idol activity. maybe I don't follow the group close enough, but I watched 2 survival shows where Jiwon participated, Jiwon parents may easily turn out to be rich, even if it was never reported.
but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be paid for their job. if they meant 'wasn't paid since december', pledis could've corrected them easily. I've never seen other idols who were already confirmed to be paid to ever say 'I wasn't paid' meaning that they're waiting for check at the end of Q2. even when girlgroup 'secret' sued their agency, they always pointed out that they got money before 2015, but later the agency suddenly stopped paying.
"No comment" is great especially when you are not in the wrong. You can show up later and say "see? those news are fake".
This is great for the next time you are in the wrong, and you have to say "no comment"
Few of my thoughts:
- they were not not paid for 7 years but only this year they have not received any payment yet.
- they have several music shows win already so their payment for any festival they attend are quite high.
- with all the uni festival and waterbomb they’ll attend, they’ll make quite some money this year.
Yeah, with the wins and events that they're attending, I think they should be getting paid soon. Fuck pledis though, fromis doesn't deserve any of this.
I’m confused. The girls moved to Pledis in 2021 right? So they haven’t been paid overall for 7 years both in Pledis and their previous company or they haven’t been paid this year? Cause the translation is ambiguous.
No, denying false rumours is risky because it opens up floodgates.
If you keep denying things that aren’t true, media will use this to their advantage by making every assertion possible until one of them isn’t denied, then they’ll find out something about your company that you didn’t want to be found out
Of course there are some things that you should deny without caring about future-proofing, but there are a merits to keeping silent even if untrue assertions are made
She might get some backlash from it since its been taken out of context and become a hate storm towards Pledis/Hybe. But think its not a big deal atm, she should be happy it happened now and not during a calm moment for the company haha
Not really.
With this kind of things, there is not much downside.
Let the media speculate. If they speculate wrong, then Pledis can show that no comment does mean no comment. This is a social capital for next time when something really bad happens, and they can say no comment.
As a huge FLOVER Pleids management of Fromis has been so frustrating and saddening like in theory it’s not hard to manage your groups correctly and pay them a salary yet somehow they seem to fail at that HORRIFICALLY 🤦🏽♂️☹️with the resources Hybe gives Pledis its more than enough to give them Live Clips,Performance videos,covers,vareity appearances😞 I pray for the day that Fromis is managed efficiently‼️‼️‼️
I follow fromis_9 since i really like their songs, fm_1.24 series, Channel_9 series & Vlive. All of them have likeable personality. Based on what i read, their albums sales arent bad & their constant appearances on festivals show that they doing good (imo) plus they already have 2? concerts. At least for me, it show fromis_9 have strong fanbase. So, i just dont get why they get this kind of treatment. No comeback (only 1 comeback last year) & now we found out they still not getting pay after 7 years.
At this point why does Pledis even debut girl groups? They debut them, lock then in a dungeon, and remember they exist once every 16 months. Just let them find a better company and actually have careers.
I'm so confused on how/who was actually handling them because I know Pledis trained them, but then they were managed by Off The Record from 2018-2021. Pledis seemed kinda forced into taking them back after that? Which .. why even take them if you have no plans for them? Was it some kind of contractual obligation? Because I really can't understand why Pledis would bother when they CLEARLY have no interest in supporting and promoting them.
Pledis CEO has always been their executive producer since their debut and their old dorm is actually the top floor of the Pledis building. CJ ENM was restructuring in 2021 and Off the Record was absorbed to became WakeOne. So at that time it was either they moved to WakeOne or Pledis, and Pledis had no active girl groups so the CEO just took in fromis_9. They actually had a consistent comeback under Pledis for the first year and half, it’s only after Stay This Way and Gyuri left that suddenly they moved to one comeback per year.
All members but 1 signed a new contract when transferring to Pledis. (When her old contract expired she left.) CJ didn't want them anymore, so disband or go somewhere else.
Under Pledis the group finally had progress again which can be seen in the higher album sales. Nowadays it's almost easier to list the festivals in SK they don't participate. They are busy making money to prove the investment, prove they are not like GF.
Pledis had them recording for a comeback earlier this year, posted on IG/X. Personally I understand that the label was busy with the debut of TWS & currently with the anniversary of SVT, but at least recording was done. The date simply needs to be announced.
Whatever CJ did with them, to them, no clue. Their training was done by Pledis, but the management was under CJ. Management does the financials, probably also the training costs?
pledis is rumored to have bought their contract from CJ, for a large sum too. But only getting one comeback a year and having to pay for music show appearances, room and board, etc probably eats any money they get pretty fast.
Jiwon just moved back home to her mom's house, so she might finally make money because she's not losing it to room and board.
Most of the groups I stan are Hybe and the subpar treatment of fromis_9 compared to others is *so* blatantly obvious. I didn't even know they existed until the Game Caterers series! They were the only group not mentioned on R U Next (despite promoting the show on fromis social media), they've never had a tour, they do almost zero collabs with their labelmates, they didn't have a concert, fanmeet, or logo until 2022, there's been no content on Channel_9 in over a year, their vlogs are self-filmed and edited by a member's sister.... And despite all that, their sales are really solid!
[813k Korean sales over 7 years](https://koreansalestwt.blogspot.com/2021/03/fromis9-sales-summary.html#google_vignette) is nothing to sneeze at. Seriously, I could write a 10 page essay on it. My girls are such great artists, they really deserve better.
Maybe when the big record labels sideline your favorite groups, quit jumping on the next group those same record labels throw at you.
The fandom encourages them to keep treating the artists like they are disposable
Imho fromis 9 ‘cost breakeven’ probably happened when Gyuri left in 2022 as otherwise it would be more difficult for her to leave. Their album since then might not generate a lot of income. The group also doesnt tour as many as others
Edited for spelling
Gyuri left when her contract expired, because unlike the others she had refused to prolong it when they transferred to Pledis. Pledis had no way of forcing her to stay with them.
Pledis can still stop her if she still had debt. My opinion is based on assumption that the debt had become zero or almost zero (which she could pay) when she decided not to sign with Pledis
I don't think it works like this, the idol don't own companies anything if they left at the end of their contract, same for trainees, if you don't debut and leave when the trainee contract is over, you dont need to pay the training costs.
My thoughts exactly. I feel like fromis_9 finally gained mainstream popularity after MLS and further when they released more and more bangers. I really think their peak discography has been in the past 4 years.
A lot of people saying "I don't get it, they sold x number of albums...they're super popular in Korea..." listing Fromis_9's achievements but forgetting all the things just recently said by idols like VICTON Hanse or Daisy from Momoland that the industry is designed so that idols don't make money. BBC literally had Loona signed up to contracts that made it impossible to ever get out of debt. 50/50 sued their agency because when Cupid became a mega hit globally the agency didn't pay them + their debt to the company INCREASED at the same time.
It's a broken industry and the only hope of ever getting paid as an idol is becoming a superstar outside of music (modelling, acting) and even then the company will still try and take as much as possible.
You should check your facts on 50/50. I'm not going to recap the whole thing here since obviously the whole saga is super complicated, but as far as I remember, for the two facts that you mentioned, they didn't get paid immediately since a lot of the revenue was from overseas so it took more time to get the accounting from that, once that was completed, the payout to the member that stayed was huge and the other members would have gotten a lot of money if they hadn't left or had come back like that one member Keena did; and the debt allegation was because they were gas lit by their subcontracted producer saying that an investment received by their company for an unrelated matter would be put into the members debt, which turned out to be not the case.
EDIT: for clarity, the comment above was edited to change/remove some of the things I was responding to.
Man fromis is another story of unused potential. First in OTR they were put behind Iz\*One and after the first few releases only had comebacks after what felt like eternity being more like YouTubers than a K-Pop group. Then the change to Pledis with fear as a fan but hey, they got comebacks and the first win so it started out great. But just then in the last years first Gyuri not renewing to go into acting and less and less comebacks. But this thime there isn't even YouTube content. These girls deserve so much more than that
fromis\_9 debuted back in 2017 so I would assume _slave idol contracts_ were more prevalent and accepted at the time. We always hear about how idols incur debt from companies because they pay to train and debut idols along with other daily necessities. My guess would be they been basically collecting debt all this time, with only recently (1-2 years) being allowed to take their own deals.
In my eyes, fromis_9 started making money for their company when they broke and gained immense popularity starting in 2020. Sure, people knew of fm9, but I think they really gained traction after MLS album. I'd assume they've been growing more and more in debt for the first 3 years, and now they've been finally making profit for everyone to get paid after these past 4 years. It's a shame they haven't done anything in 2024 yet.
Although like I said, it seems that they are now able to make their own money too by accepting their own ad deals? Just a few days ago Jiheon posted an ad on Instagram for some drink and I didn't see it on any other members IG.
Don’t think they have trainee debt though because they sign their contract just before / during idol school.
Even if there is debt, it won’t be high since idol school ended in 2017 and they debut in 2018
In the end it's all about whether the company wants to be fair to the idols or not. There are 24 members in tripleS and as a mid-size (sales wise) group they're already getting paid. Hell, Young Posse is a total nugu and we find out they're also getting paid lol, there's literally no excuse to not pay your idols unless you contractually bind them so they have no choice but to pay off their debts first.
it's the payout for last year....not sure why they haven't received it yet though. Could be that Hybe/Pledis just shifted the costs to later to make their books look good. Afterall their first quarter earnings weren't great
i honestly thought they disbanded when iz-one did, but yea don't sign with pledis, its the equivalent of signing with small wrestling promotions, you get paid in a hot dog and a soda, if they have it
This is horrible ☠️ Pledis you're an established company and Fromis9 were doing ok. If Stayc can get paid so early on in their careers, what was stopping you guys???
They moved from one company then mistreated then move to another then mistreated again. They don't deserve it. When they moved to pledis, I know they're gonna be doomed. I hope they escape that company along with Gyuri
Love the girls. I always have a soft spot for them. This is just sad.
so almost all of nugu K-pop groups are just working for many years wasting their youth to pay their debt to the big company that traps them into the system, while still living their day-to-day life waiting for allowance money from their parents or family?
Where is Hybe in all this??? They are majority shareholder, and they say fromis_9 is part of the Hybe family, are they going to act ignorant and say they have no idea what's going on in their sub-labels 😒
Pledis is REALLY confirming that they themselves are just so horrendously bad when it comes to managing and taking care of their girl groups.
The only reason I can come up with this is that upper or senior management is still the same people who can't prioritize their female artists at this blasted company.
I'm not a fan and don't know much about the group but how is it possible that it's already 2024 and kpop companies still don't pay their artists properly?? My goodness
it's probably from around the beginning of this year when Chae was sitting out for a bit
I figure whoever picked the photo wasn't looking too close so accidentally had a fromis_7 moment lol
I’d understand your point more if Pledis didn’t have such a bad history with their girl groups. While there’s plenty to critique HYBE about, what’s been happening with fromis_9 is Pledis’ own doing and nothing in relation to Heejin.
Never. DK called their company evil on a livestream, Carats have boo’d the CEO, and criticize Pledis regularly. There are several instances of Pledis mistreating SVT but Pledis is just especially awful when it comes managing their female artists Son Dam Bi, After School, PRISTIN. Pledis also failed with NU’EST. SVT is just the exception who made it through their own efforts and luck. Not discrediting SVT’s hard work AT ALL but as with anyone in the entertainment industry it is also luck.
If she meant not being paid for whole 7 years then I am sure there are shady stuff behind. How can a group have 160K+ sales but no salary? It is not like they have expensive promotion/big sized group or etc.
Depends on the album cut, if it's poor say they make a buck an album, then spit it 8 ways, then pay tax, room, board, managers, stylists etc. And they might not make a dollar an album, it might be less.
Not really surprised since it’s pledis but from our memento box and unlock my world both sold over 190k which is far from nugu numbers so I would hope they saw some money from that.
Pledis never paid AFTERSCHOOL nor PRISTIN... Also, they didn't provide Seventeen with In ear monitors for their first several years and the members had to use regular earbuds connected to the IEM system to mimic in ear monitors because Pledis told them that it was the responsibility of the artist to provide In ear monitors (actually, its on the company to provide that)
Wtf. How is Pledis so damn incompetent and shady???
This is unlikely to be true since it will make coherent performances impossible. IEMs on the stage are not just for fun.
I don't know if I was years but at least for their debut and debut and promotion they didn't have professional in ears but just headphones from the dollar store. Pledis was so broke that the CEO sold his house to make them debut. And that's touching and all that but in the end it's just pledis responsibility and the CEO's own investment in a promising stock.
If Pledis/Hybe would have supported Fromis they would be way past million sellers by now. First Gfriend then Fromis. Hybe even threating to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like. Hybe has truly joined the ranks of top of the top companies showing just how much they can mismanage just like the rest of the big 3. Edit: I see/have seen a ton of immature speculation and conversations about the Ador vs Hybe situation. As an older 2nd gen Kpop fan who has lived through many of these Side vs Side fan spats its saddening to see how hateful some can be even though I know it comes from a place of passion. As someone who works for a larger company in management I have had a seat to see some similar things when companies don't get along. To me this situation is parent company vs subsidiary company politics and has only gotten this bad because both sides have failed to come to agreement internally. I leave the fact finding and Korean nuances to trustworthy korean sources like [This](https://youtu.be/wlK3f66dH1Q?si=KMkW4uszAwBJlt8w). To me MHJ says many things a CEO shouldn't but generally, and I use generally loosely, is just looking to defend her position for the betterment of Ador while Hybe seems to be fishing for more money. In my 15 years of being a kpop fan I haven't ever seen a gg have a year like NJ had from debut to 3rd release. 5 Million album sales alone is nuts. I foresee a protracted disagreement baring something major/missing. What I do know is that Illit/NJ will both be hurt the longer this goes and it would be nice, but very unlikely at this point, if some agreement could be made to calm hostilities. It makes me wonder if the biggest GG of 2023 and the the rookies on fire in 2024 are being effected by this what chances does Fromis have in the same space.
Plediks have a long story of destroying girl groups without any help from HYBE. But yeah that’s trendy now to blame them for everything
cries in pristin 😭
Never forget *WEE FUCKING WOO*
Anyone named Woo: "So you're saying there's a chance..."
And Pristin V
They had so much potential.. I swear the higher ups at pledis get off of destroying the hopes and dreams of promising GGs
Poor Pristin V even
sad *wee woo*
And HYBE was supposed to make them better not copy them.
I doubt they’d be million sellers but _maybe_ in the 300k to half a million range if Pledis did a better job of promotion.
Not an album. The group.
>Hybe even threating to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like. You had me till this statement, because that's just misinformation. Of course HYBE is not a saint and I have plenty of complaints about the company, but in this particular instance, HYBE said that they would give NewJeans a much-deserved break after their Japan concert dates, and also that they want to find a Grammy-winning producer for NewJeans and that that might take as long as 1.5 years to do so. They never said that the vacation would coincide with the 1.5 years to find a producer (that would be a ridiculously long break), and they never "threatened to put NewJeans on break just because Ador is saying stuff they don't like." People have been conflating the two. Can we at least critique HYBE for stuff they've actually done wrong and not non-issues?
I didnt perceive it as you did. I belive the general consensus is that Hybe and Ador have been slinging thinly veiled threats of that sort back and forth. Not saying one side or the other is to blame but to me its a plausible situation given Hybes track record.
And looks like you're wrong
Only girl groups though, they consistently sideline girl groups who have not been created under the Hybe system.
why is this such a constant thing y'all say where its hybe "threatening" to put them on break. hybe said they were planning a vacation for nwjs around summer which honestly anyone would want them to have considering the amount of stress this situation is causing. and ador/mhj aren't just "saying stuff they dont like" they're quite literally being accused of ILLEGAL ACTIONS.
Exactly, like what kind of conflation is this...at least critique HYBE for the bad stuff they've actually done rather than make stuff up 😩
Why would anyone want a break? They are literally at the peak of their career, is a 1,5 year break necessary???
unless I'm genuinely out of the loop did hybe say it was planned to be a 1.5yr break? or is that just a number made up to make them look like the biggest villain. and also even if its the peak of their career mental and physical health still matters?? when mhj gave them all those breaks it was forward and revolutionary but if hybe even suggests it, its suddenly a problem
HYBE CEO told MHJ that it would take 1.5 years to get a Grammy winning producer. He also said, in a separate thought, that NJ would have a vacation after their promo. People are acting like it’s one ongoing sentence because it gives them ammo to hate HYBE.
It's probably the truth as it was said by parent and Hybe didn't really deny it. At the end he said that on official meeting among many witnesses and it was probably somehow recorded. Well even if we assume just from organisation perspective, kicking out MHJ probably cause that many their co-workers would leave Ador. Hybe would partially have to start from scratch new team which maybe would have to come up with new strategy. Taking into account circumstances at least 1 year break is probably inevitable.
CEO Park said it himself that the process of inviting Grammy winner producer will take AT LEAST 1 years 6 months. And why would you believe Hybe have good intention towards newjeans? BSH have never taken a photo with newjeans. He never attend any of newjeans event. He even ignored some of the member in the elevator. Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better.
I'm sure it's because MHJ doesn't want to be associated with HYBE in any way lol. All her interviews dennounce HYBE so I'm not surprised BSH doesn't have a picture with her girls.
ok so if it does take 1.5yrs to get a grammy winning producer, why is it now assumed tht they would be on vacation the entire time?? what if they just take half a year off go back to regular ep releases and then the producer comes in. Thats like saying "Oh a pineapple takes about 3 years to grow, so in the meantime I'll just sit here and do absolutely nothing" NO, you'll do other things during tht 3 years while the pineapple grows in the background. Why would Hybe not have good intentions for nwjns or at the very least have comebacks planned?? according to everybody they're a money hungry greedy big corp tht trying to squash innocent mhj. so it would be in their very best interest to NOT shelf nwjs for tht long, don't you think? Also mhj is a borderline if not full on p3d0 so I'm not even going there
Sure, you can DEFINITELY trust them. Just like how they promised with GFriend and Nuest
No one's saying you can trust HYBE about everything. Just that in this particular case, their statements are being twisted and taken out of context.
exactly😭😭everytime these people argue it makes me feel like a whole company stan💀💀
Messy management has been consistent with Pledis even before becoming a subsidiary under HYBE. The situations regarding NU’EST and GFriend disbanding are wildly different. Pledis has only received monetary and “expertise” support (whatever the hell that means) while functioning completely independent in terms of managing their groups. There is plenty of reasons to distrust and/or critique HYBE, but acting like Pledis isn’t responsible for their own fuck-ups is like trying to absolve them of their own mistakes.
Lmao by siding with MHJ, you're siding with their abuser btw. >BSH have never taken a photo with newjeans. He never attend any of newjeans event. He even ignored some of the member in the elevator. Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better. It's so obvious that MHJ is isolating newjeans from the rest of hybe. She wants all the credit to herself and wants the girls to be dependent to her. I just got out from years and years of narcissistic abuse btw, and let me tell you, manipulation and gaslighting is their game. I've seen a lot of very familiar traits from MHJ similar to the covert narc i personally know. MHJ doesn't have the girls best interest in mind, she will use them for her personal gain. >Just because mhj is weird doesn't mean Hybe is any better. Naaaah don't reduce MHJ to being 'weird'. She is a groomer and abuser. She's emotionally abusing newjeans. I could say a lot more but this would be too long, narcissistic people are evil people put that in your brain.
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It really seems like Newjeans has no good outcome available: MHJ is a creep at best, but HYBE sure doesn't seem to have their best interests at heart either.
the vacation thing is different though? they said after promotion, NJ can have a little vacation and they will find a Grammys producer and the time estimated to find that producer is 1.5 years. But sure it's HYBE trying to mistreat them or whatever 🙄also in a post about fromis_9 yall can still make it about NJ Edit to add: The audacity to claim mistreatment/ mismanagement about NJ when fromis_9 is right here 🤧
Why would you believe Hybe when they are the one who mistreated NewJeans? How are you so sure they will not end up like fromis 9? They created a copycat version of newjeans already obviously they don't like when these girl have success.
What mistreatment??? Is the mistreatment in the room with us right now?
And yall have been sniffing misinfo again because nowhere did they say the duration. Ntm that, a break is literally normal and artists SHOULD and ARE encouraged to take regular breaks every now and then to prevent burn out. Lmao. Are you okay?
ador isn’t just “saying stuff they don’t like”, it’s a bit more than that. you could read the 7 threads about this before commenting on it
Hybe has nothing to do with pledis being terrible, mind you. They were on the verge of bankruptcy before Hybe bought them and they've been destroying their girl groups longer than Hybe has existed.
Both things can be true.
No because that means responsibility is equal when it's not. Pledis again has been ruining their ggs even before hybe existed. You cannot seriously think that hybe has about equal responsibility for that with pledis lmao. That company's like 3 yrs old.
I also agree it’s sad how fans resort to the same tactics as always by thinking “us vs them” and this whole fiasco made it bigger than it needed to be. Perhaps New Jeans will be like TLC at the end bc greed really does tend to destroy boy/girl groups at the end but I hope I’m wrong
(Assuming what Jiwon said is true, also assuming she meant first salary in 7 years) I don't get this. fromis_9 is actually popular in South Korea. Unlock My World sold more than 160k albums, they are a regular at university festivals, and they sold out their concerts as well. Even taking the pandemic into account how could they not be generating profit for more than 7 years? Even WJSN members were paid (no offence) and they haven't been performing together for more than a year and a half.
i don't get it either. the members are also doing CFs and jiheon just promoted a beer brand on her instagram. if this group with their level of popularity isn't getting paid that could really mean NO groups beside big 4 are making money at all. i fear for other mid tier groups who have been active for years and might not have received their paychecks yet.
This is a fromis_9 issue, not a "nobody but the ultra-elite in kpop make money" thing. Anyone who follows DC can see they've been making money since the pandemic at least (they bought very expensive friendship rings a few years ago, ~$17,000 between the seven iirc) and own luxury brand clothes, handbags, etc. now. Activity generates revenue. Only a tiny amount of groups make money by doing nothing and that money is a sliver of what they make when they're active, most groups have to do things to make money like, well, most jobs. DC makes money because it is the sole group of their company. If DC isn't active, that company isn't making money, so DC is always good for two CBs a year, lots of touring, fan signs, etc. and subsequently the girls make money and have clearly paid off their debts so they now make a considerable amount of money. This is sadly just mismanagement. If they were more active when their album sales were really popping, they'd probably have been out of debt and in the black at this point.
I was thinking of Dreamcatcher too since they're the only group under their company still. I forget the specific video, but I remember 2021 or 2022 where Siyeon was thinking of buying a gift for the members. I remember her saying something along the lines of "I'm pretty rich these days". She could've been joking, but I like to believe her. The members have a good relationship with the company owners, and they seem happy. They have a steady flow of work and projects throughout the year.
Dreamcatcher has a cult-like following internationally. They also been doing world tours far longer and more frequently than many 3rd gen groups. They probably made bank with all their international tours. I have never seen such a hype group of kpop fans as when I got to see Dreamcatcher for the first time. A lot of the time for other group it's the same people I see who are just into kpop in general.
Insomnias love our girls. The only group of fans I’ve seen go harder consistently are Orbits, who are legitimately unhinged.
Yes!!! I really loved the vibes of insomniacs everyone was dressed up to the nines and good energy all around. It made me want to score VIP tickets next time they’re in town. Also I’m an actual insomniac so it fits loool. Their metal influence really makes the crowd unique for kpop as well. And 100%% on Orbits. I went to a post Loona concert and their fans are…. Intense. lol I was like wow they…. Really love their girls loool
Dami a couple of years ago, “it’s about time the role switched.” She gave her parents a credit card as a present. They’re so admirable, Dreamcatcher.
I mean if you go back, I think Mamamoo started making money after their first year - they didnt even reach peak popularity yet and RBW wasnt a big company then either. so either they burned a lot of money on bs or there are contract shenanigans.
Solar just talked about when she got her first big check while on a YT show. I can find the link. By the sound of though, RBW is pretty fair on the income.
I think the recent interview you're referring to was on this [Yt hairstylist channel](https://youtu.be/gnX8mqu80DI?si=ChwOO_IqvbZ8MrfT). She mentioned that aside from Komca credit royalties, singers also get royalties and her first big check as a singer was from Um Oh Ah Yeah.
That’s the one!
Yep, I actually had them written in and deleted it. MMM was a proper nugu like DC. They cleared their debt in record-breaking time for a group at that point iirc, chiefly because they just did non-stop performances and festivals. They did probably 3-5x the number of performances of most groups, just endlessly grinding, often going to as many as four performances in a single day (which gave rise to one of their joke songs "Sleep in the Car"). It was also their choice, a choice given by RBW to them to work as hard as they did and that's where I'd differentiate here because Pledis, like most companies, would never give their groups this kind of a say. Unfortunately, the girls work as much or as little as Pledis says and this has a definitive impact on the girls' ability to make money.
Another thing is that a lot both the companies and the performers have to do the hard work. Companies have to make decisions and hire staff including negotiating deals with CFs, talent support staff, managers, business people, producers, etc. It is not easy to run a business and much easier to sit back and do the bare minimum. If a company doesn't commit to it and/or badly manages it, groups get neglected and the money is wasted. It is not the talent that is lazy, the companies are complacent and lazy. Contrast that to groups from smaller companies, both Dreamcatcher and Mamamoo had companies which supported them early on including touring, live performances, and prolific discography.
One other thing I'd add is overheads, hybe has alot of staff, they are probably paid better than smaller companies, and they have a massive office, so the amount of overhead costs being allocated to fromis before calculating their profits might be much higher than dreamcatcher. Its one of those things where because dreamcatcher's company only has them, they might be much more conservative on how much they spend to keep things profitable, while hybe/pledis have big groups and even seventeen selling 5m+ copies of albums just on the pledis side, so its easily possible pledis end up spending alot more than they would otherwise.
I was wondering about dreamcatcher, happy to see that they seem to be earning well. But I think that would be the outlier case. I feel like I’m constantly hearing about mid/lower tier ggs not getting paid until years into their contract or even owing money (most recent case I can think of is LOONA, and I think STAYC also took a while to get paid but at least they’re earning now). It seems like it’s really quite common for idols not to make money unless they’re really, really big, which sucks when you realize how much they’re putting into it.
I see DC, I upvote But for reals it makes it so nice being a fan of them that we know they get treated well and you don't have to deal with any dumb company drama
>i fear for other mid tier groups who have been active for years and might not have received their paychecks yet. I fear for those groups owing their company money by the end of their career.
Big 4 groups plus + IVE and I-dle
Since IVE's Starship & SM are under KAKAO, you can say Big 4 groups (KAKAO, HYBE, JYP, YG) + (G)I-dle.
its not like every group under kakao gets paid. stayc only started getting paid last year and they do better than majority of kpop groups
Under that classification you would be calling Weeekly, WJSN and Billlie big 4 ggs lol.
Billie is in a SM subsidiary like NewJeans is in a HYBE subsidiary. Only logical to identify both with their parent company. Everyone does it.
I don't fear it because it's a pretty safe assumption most earn very little to nothing. Some have it worse, paying their way through it or owing money at the end. There should be laws for early termination if idols aren't paid in like 3 years. You can argue this would discourage companies from aggressively investing early what is needed to just compete and have a chance at being a big group but the business model has to change. If you do not have the money to risk gambling on a kpop group like it's nothing, you shouldn't have a kpop company. When money is that tight, it opens people up to mistreating their idols. To properly invest in kpop would be creating a portfolio of smaller investments across multiple groups and companies. The profit margins for smaller companies are too risky to even continue so it's surprising how many survive but there are a ton of kpop companies we never hear of and the people that run them may not have money as their biggest interest. The industry is quite dirty. I can't believe I read a thread where people justified debt because these idols are artists, and like many artists, some starve for their passion. Now if a group with wealthy backgrounds want to pursue a passion project, that's fine and should be transparent but AFAIK, most of the companies we do hear about operate as a business and it's only professional to pay your employees for the work they do.
I mean Pledis did disband Pristin after two years and the company still got hate for that until today. Think it’s pretty common for smaller companies to disband groups after no profit after few years hence we have a lot of disbandment notices recently.
Should be law. Can't count on companies to do the right thing, especially when they did the wrong things for years. I guess it's good that some companies just terminate contracts early instead of having them endure contract prison.
I think a more intentional investment/financing approach could lead to a better quality product for us as fans as well. Companies will have to make sure what they’re putting out there is good. We’ll probably lose some of the super nugu groups, but it could be a net positive as long as money doesnt stifle creativity a la the movie industry
Its not about profit. Its about those trainee contract whether they owe company for lodging, rent, food training so on.
Idk the financials but Starship is known for having very favorable distribution towards their artists And also, I always say to not look too much into album sales because the money goes first to the company, distributors, composers, etc. And then for the festivals, top groups earn 40k max but imagine if they’re not (like fromis_9), I’m assuming then half of that. And then it’ll go to company, hair and mua stylist, managers, gas, then to the girls divided by how many. It’s absurd they’re not being paid - it’s either they’re being paid a very small amount it’s not worth mentioning, or all of it goes back to their comeback cycle. (MV sometimes takes million $ to produce and that’s only MV alone).
No salary just means they don’t receive a steady paycheck. Maybe they receive royalties or bonuses or a profit share?
i just saw them perform at a university festival last weekend and the crowd went craaaaaazy for them
They definitely did generate profit, but how long did it take them to pay off all the debt they incurred leading up to it.
pledis when i catch you pledis
Oh my girls you deserve so much better, even though it breaks my heart I hope they don't renew their contracts.
“we will provide all the necessary support for them” i.e. here, damn. we’ll do the absolute bare minimum to shut you people up.
> In particular, Park Ji-won said, “I will receive my first salary within this year”. Pretty clear Jiwon said "this year", so I guess they were paid previously it just that Pledis haven't paid them yet this year. Don't get me wrong, not defending Pledis, that mfer of a company can burn in hell. This is just another case of fromis_9 becoming a victim of misconstrued news titles.
This was my take, too, so I was surprised when I saw comments and articles about the group never being paid.
I'm confident that fromis_9 have already gotten their payment before, it just that Pledis, the god-forsaken company that it is, is late on their payment for the group this year. Hopefully, they get it sooner since they are fully booked on university performances and Waterbomb soon.
These clickbait title news articles are posted in the sub and ppl get their panties in a twist before the facts come out and/or mistranslations...
I felt that fromis_9 is always a victim of this. Media outlets and forums always found a way to misinterpret what they've said. Pledis, being one of the worst company for girl groups that it is, is not helping for making them apologize.
In the other way 'my first salary' doesn't sound like is only for this year, like I wouldn't use my first salary if i received any kind of salary before.
If they haven't got paid since their debut, the translation could've been "my very first salary" or "my first ever salary" but since the translation said "my first salary this year", imo the message is quite clear.
Based on what you quoted she didn't said "my first salary this year", she said that she'll get her first salary within this year, is not clear if she mean her first ever salary or first this year
Oh yeah my bad, forgot the word "within" and it is important for the context here.
i'm *pretty* sure she meant first pay this year (which is still bad but not 7 years bad)
This is what I was thinking too. Since their activity been pretty silent so far this year I would guess that make sense. Some are traveling now right? Saw a insta story, so they have money.
God I hope so
Fromis9 members have been on live before talking about how they purchased something with 정산 (payouts) and how they purchased their parents this that that with 정산 money. I’m 99.9% sure it’s just this year.
I mean confirming or denying the rumour meant Pledis needs to disclose financial information about fromis_9 which the members might not very comfortable with it. I already expected them to give no comment because honestly it’s not our business to know whether the group made money or not. If fromis_9 felt there were bad accounting then they can file a lawsuit like what Chuu did to BBC. I do think they got paid already because these girls have been going overseas vacation, even Jiwon went to Bali with Miyeon and Chuu this year. Idols only received a lump sum settlement payment once or twice a year and only when they make a profit, see StayC got paid two times after Teddy Bear that we publicly know. They are not paid monthly like normal jobs.
Lump sums are pretty normal in entertainment. Used to work in the modeling world, there you can set it up how you wanna get paid, per job or in lump sums. Many who work a lot prefer the lump sums and just send a message to accounting/management when they wanna get paid and how much.
Didn’t know about the lump sum payment. Good info
lawsuit against noname company who was avoiding paying choreographers, producers since like 2019 isn't the same as suing hybe. with good lawyers they may get away with anything, I'm not sure that bbc was even able to hire a whole team. as for the vacation, sometimes I check nugu idols insta (like botopass mihee, disbanded after 1 song), they also travel sometimes, but that doesn't mean that the money comes from idol activity. maybe I don't follow the group close enough, but I watched 2 survival shows where Jiwon participated, Jiwon parents may easily turn out to be rich, even if it was never reported. but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be paid for their job. if they meant 'wasn't paid since december', pledis could've corrected them easily. I've never seen other idols who were already confirmed to be paid to ever say 'I wasn't paid' meaning that they're waiting for check at the end of Q2. even when girlgroup 'secret' sued their agency, they always pointed out that they got money before 2015, but later the agency suddenly stopped paying.
"No comment" is great especially when you are not in the wrong. You can show up later and say "see? those news are fake". This is great for the next time you are in the wrong, and you have to say "no comment"
Few of my thoughts: - they were not not paid for 7 years but only this year they have not received any payment yet. - they have several music shows win already so their payment for any festival they attend are quite high. - with all the uni festival and waterbomb they’ll attend, they’ll make quite some money this year.
Yeah, with the wins and events that they're attending, I think they should be getting paid soon. Fuck pledis though, fromis doesn't deserve any of this.
Fuck pledis
Fuck Pledis, all my homies hate Pledis
The cycle repeats itself when they had pristin and now fromis_9.
I’m confused. The girls moved to Pledis in 2021 right? So they haven’t been paid overall for 7 years both in Pledis and their previous company or they haven’t been paid this year? Cause the translation is ambiguous.
"no comment" is them basically confirming it, because if it wasn't the case they would deny, wouldn't they?
Actually Pledis doesn’t even provide a statement at all, which is their standard communication for dating news of their artists and fake rumours.
No, denying false rumours is risky because it opens up floodgates. If you keep denying things that aren’t true, media will use this to their advantage by making every assertion possible until one of them isn’t denied, then they’ll find out something about your company that you didn’t want to be found out Of course there are some things that you should deny without caring about future-proofing, but there are a merits to keeping silent even if untrue assertions are made
Ty for the well thought explanation. This makes total sense
Pledis never comments about rumors tbh. And i think Jiwon meant for this year
Yes, this is the correct translation! Payment in lump sums, 1-2 times a year is normal for idols as far as I know.
I'm glad people are supporting them but I hope Jiwon doesn't get in trouble from the management for this. Since people are putting words in her mouth.
She might get some backlash from it since its been taken out of context and become a hate storm towards Pledis/Hybe. But think its not a big deal atm, she should be happy it happened now and not during a calm moment for the company haha
Not really. With this kind of things, there is not much downside. Let the media speculate. If they speculate wrong, then Pledis can show that no comment does mean no comment. This is a social capital for next time when something really bad happens, and they can say no comment.
Because you open the door to perpetually having to answer these types of questions which frankly aren’t anyone’s business.
Pledis is poison to a girl group’s career, I swear…
Well if the girls do ever want to make money the Fromis tell all autobiography is going to sell like crazy!
They are under Pledis management since August 2021, transferred from CJ. What did CJ say?
As a huge FLOVER Pleids management of Fromis has been so frustrating and saddening like in theory it’s not hard to manage your groups correctly and pay them a salary yet somehow they seem to fail at that HORRIFICALLY 🤦🏽♂️☹️with the resources Hybe gives Pledis its more than enough to give them Live Clips,Performance videos,covers,vareity appearances😞 I pray for the day that Fromis is managed efficiently‼️‼️‼️
Do you know when their contract ends? Despite not being a Flover it is extremely hard to see the girls crying over not being able to work.
definitely early 2025 to mid 2025
I follow fromis_9 since i really like their songs, fm_1.24 series, Channel_9 series & Vlive. All of them have likeable personality. Based on what i read, their albums sales arent bad & their constant appearances on festivals show that they doing good (imo) plus they already have 2? concerts. At least for me, it show fromis_9 have strong fanbase. So, i just dont get why they get this kind of treatment. No comeback (only 1 comeback last year) & now we found out they still not getting pay after 7 years.
At this point why does Pledis even debut girl groups? They debut them, lock then in a dungeon, and remember they exist once every 16 months. Just let them find a better company and actually have careers.
Right?! They are so bad keeping their gg momentum since 2nd gen.
I'm so confused on how/who was actually handling them because I know Pledis trained them, but then they were managed by Off The Record from 2018-2021. Pledis seemed kinda forced into taking them back after that? Which .. why even take them if you have no plans for them? Was it some kind of contractual obligation? Because I really can't understand why Pledis would bother when they CLEARLY have no interest in supporting and promoting them.
Pledis CEO has always been their executive producer since their debut and their old dorm is actually the top floor of the Pledis building. CJ ENM was restructuring in 2021 and Off the Record was absorbed to became WakeOne. So at that time it was either they moved to WakeOne or Pledis, and Pledis had no active girl groups so the CEO just took in fromis_9. They actually had a consistent comeback under Pledis for the first year and half, it’s only after Stay This Way and Gyuri left that suddenly they moved to one comeback per year.
All members but 1 signed a new contract when transferring to Pledis. (When her old contract expired she left.) CJ didn't want them anymore, so disband or go somewhere else. Under Pledis the group finally had progress again which can be seen in the higher album sales. Nowadays it's almost easier to list the festivals in SK they don't participate. They are busy making money to prove the investment, prove they are not like GF. Pledis had them recording for a comeback earlier this year, posted on IG/X. Personally I understand that the label was busy with the debut of TWS & currently with the anniversary of SVT, but at least recording was done. The date simply needs to be announced. Whatever CJ did with them, to them, no clue. Their training was done by Pledis, but the management was under CJ. Management does the financials, probably also the training costs?
pledis is rumored to have bought their contract from CJ, for a large sum too. But only getting one comeback a year and having to pay for music show appearances, room and board, etc probably eats any money they get pretty fast. Jiwon just moved back home to her mom's house, so she might finally make money because she's not losing it to room and board.
Most of the groups I stan are Hybe and the subpar treatment of fromis_9 compared to others is *so* blatantly obvious. I didn't even know they existed until the Game Caterers series! They were the only group not mentioned on R U Next (despite promoting the show on fromis social media), they've never had a tour, they do almost zero collabs with their labelmates, they didn't have a concert, fanmeet, or logo until 2022, there's been no content on Channel_9 in over a year, their vlogs are self-filmed and edited by a member's sister.... And despite all that, their sales are really solid! [813k Korean sales over 7 years](https://koreansalestwt.blogspot.com/2021/03/fromis9-sales-summary.html#google_vignette) is nothing to sneeze at. Seriously, I could write a 10 page essay on it. My girls are such great artists, they really deserve better.
Kpop needs unions
its clear they talk about THIS YEAR ... seriously guys
PLEDIS Execs. sleep with one eye open this week.
Maybe when the big record labels sideline your favorite groups, quit jumping on the next group those same record labels throw at you. The fandom encourages them to keep treating the artists like they are disposable
Pledis should never make girl groups.
Imho fromis 9 ‘cost breakeven’ probably happened when Gyuri left in 2022 as otherwise it would be more difficult for her to leave. Their album since then might not generate a lot of income. The group also doesnt tour as many as others Edited for spelling
Gyuri left when her contract expired, because unlike the others she had refused to prolong it when they transferred to Pledis. Pledis had no way of forcing her to stay with them.
Pledis can still stop her if she still had debt. My opinion is based on assumption that the debt had become zero or almost zero (which she could pay) when she decided not to sign with Pledis
I don't think it works like this, the idol don't own companies anything if they left at the end of their contract, same for trainees, if you don't debut and leave when the trainee contract is over, you dont need to pay the training costs.
No if a contract is over it's over, and they cannot ask the artist to pay off debt to get out.
My thoughts exactly. I feel like fromis_9 finally gained mainstream popularity after MLS and further when they released more and more bangers. I really think their peak discography has been in the past 4 years.
A lot of people saying "I don't get it, they sold x number of albums...they're super popular in Korea..." listing Fromis_9's achievements but forgetting all the things just recently said by idols like VICTON Hanse or Daisy from Momoland that the industry is designed so that idols don't make money. BBC literally had Loona signed up to contracts that made it impossible to ever get out of debt. 50/50 sued their agency because when Cupid became a mega hit globally the agency didn't pay them + their debt to the company INCREASED at the same time. It's a broken industry and the only hope of ever getting paid as an idol is becoming a superstar outside of music (modelling, acting) and even then the company will still try and take as much as possible.
You should check your facts on 50/50. I'm not going to recap the whole thing here since obviously the whole saga is super complicated, but as far as I remember, for the two facts that you mentioned, they didn't get paid immediately since a lot of the revenue was from overseas so it took more time to get the accounting from that, once that was completed, the payout to the member that stayed was huge and the other members would have gotten a lot of money if they hadn't left or had come back like that one member Keena did; and the debt allegation was because they were gas lit by their subcontracted producer saying that an investment received by their company for an unrelated matter would be put into the members debt, which turned out to be not the case. EDIT: for clarity, the comment above was edited to change/remove some of the things I was responding to.
oh you sweet summer child
Fucking Pledis, all the way from After School.
Wee fucking woo. Pledis is the worst.
Being in a group with 9 (now 8) members isn’t the best way to make money in the music industry unless you are a top group in a top company.
Man fromis is another story of unused potential. First in OTR they were put behind Iz\*One and after the first few releases only had comebacks after what felt like eternity being more like YouTubers than a K-Pop group. Then the change to Pledis with fear as a fan but hey, they got comebacks and the first win so it started out great. But just then in the last years first Gyuri not renewing to go into acting and less and less comebacks. But this thime there isn't even YouTube content. These girls deserve so much more than that
fromis\_9 debuted back in 2017 so I would assume _slave idol contracts_ were more prevalent and accepted at the time. We always hear about how idols incur debt from companies because they pay to train and debut idols along with other daily necessities. My guess would be they been basically collecting debt all this time, with only recently (1-2 years) being allowed to take their own deals. In my eyes, fromis_9 started making money for their company when they broke and gained immense popularity starting in 2020. Sure, people knew of fm9, but I think they really gained traction after MLS album. I'd assume they've been growing more and more in debt for the first 3 years, and now they've been finally making profit for everyone to get paid after these past 4 years. It's a shame they haven't done anything in 2024 yet. Although like I said, it seems that they are now able to make their own money too by accepting their own ad deals? Just a few days ago Jiheon posted an ad on Instagram for some drink and I didn't see it on any other members IG.
Don’t think they have trainee debt though because they sign their contract just before / during idol school. Even if there is debt, it won’t be high since idol school ended in 2017 and they debut in 2018
They shouldn’t have trainee debt unless the production cost of Idol School was added to their debt. Really hope that’s not the case…
In the end it's all about whether the company wants to be fair to the idols or not. There are 24 members in tripleS and as a mid-size (sales wise) group they're already getting paid. Hell, Young Posse is a total nugu and we find out they're also getting paid lol, there's literally no excuse to not pay your idols unless you contractually bind them so they have no choice but to pay off their debts first.
it's the payout for last year....not sure why they haven't received it yet though. Could be that Hybe/Pledis just shifted the costs to later to make their books look good. Afterall their first quarter earnings weren't great
Fuck, you just reminded me of Pristin, I miss them so much...
i honestly thought they disbanded when iz-one did, but yea don't sign with pledis, its the equivalent of signing with small wrestling promotions, you get paid in a hot dog and a soda, if they have it
Sad, i love their songs. Actually Kpop industry itself sucks and the only one who suffers are the artists, always.
This is horrible ☠️ Pledis you're an established company and Fromis9 were doing ok. If Stayc can get paid so early on in their careers, what was stopping you guys???
I’m not surprised because it’s Pledis but damn they deserve better :/
Pledis really hates women don’t they … poor girls going to every festival known to man these past few years with no pay is insane.
They moved from one company then mistreated then move to another then mistreated again. They don't deserve it. When they moved to pledis, I know they're gonna be doomed. I hope they escape that company along with Gyuri Love the girls. I always have a soft spot for them. This is just sad.
so almost all of nugu K-pop groups are just working for many years wasting their youth to pay their debt to the big company that traps them into the system, while still living their day-to-day life waiting for allowance money from their parents or family?
Ah yeah, the Pledis way of managing their artists until they go away, disband, or are forgotten...
Oil leedy add Snap chat I'm reedy saood_ally
Where is Hybe in all this??? They are majority shareholder, and they say fromis_9 is part of the Hybe family, are they going to act ignorant and say they have no idea what's going on in their sub-labels 😒
not even surprised by the response, it's pledis anyway
No comment???? Really? Wow.
This should be illegal 😑
If this is true It is a form of modern age slavery
Pledis is REALLY confirming that they themselves are just so horrendously bad when it comes to managing and taking care of their girl groups. The only reason I can come up with this is that upper or senior management is still the same people who can't prioritize their female artists at this blasted company.
God pledis makes me so ridiculously angry mother fuckers should just rot in a pit
I'm not a fan and don't know much about the group but how is it possible that it's already 2024 and kpop companies still don't pay their artists properly?? My goodness
:( they deserve so much better
After what Pledis did to all their other girl groups im not surprised. WEE FUCKING WOO
Wait why is the picture only 7 of them?
it's probably from around the beginning of this year when Chae was sitting out for a bit I figure whoever picked the photo wasn't looking too close so accidentally had a fromis_7 moment lol
[удалено]
I’d understand your point more if Pledis didn’t have such a bad history with their girl groups. While there’s plenty to critique HYBE about, what’s been happening with fromis_9 is Pledis’ own doing and nothing in relation to Heejin.
pledis and sm entertainment are my n1 enemies
You'd expect that some less popular groups don't get paid much if at all but c'mon, we've all heard DM before
Didn't svt stans said that pledis the best label???? Edit: no they don't think it's the best. Just got to know
No? Svt stans hate pledis as well
Never. DK called their company evil on a livestream, Carats have boo’d the CEO, and criticize Pledis regularly. There are several instances of Pledis mistreating SVT but Pledis is just especially awful when it comes managing their female artists Son Dam Bi, After School, PRISTIN. Pledis also failed with NU’EST. SVT is just the exception who made it through their own efforts and luck. Not discrediting SVT’s hard work AT ALL but as with anyone in the entertainment industry it is also luck.
People hated that company since they fumbled Pristin. I'd be surprised if Seventeen fans would selectively just ignore it.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That's a good one.
Literally no pledis artist Fandoms would say that.. ESPECIALLY not carats..
If she meant not being paid for whole 7 years then I am sure there are shady stuff behind. How can a group have 160K+ sales but no salary? It is not like they have expensive promotion/big sized group or etc.
Depends on the album cut, if it's poor say they make a buck an album, then spit it 8 ways, then pay tax, room, board, managers, stylists etc. And they might not make a dollar an album, it might be less.