K-pop Industry Abuse

[Solid Snake]

“Unless you are that ‘hot’ musician of the moment, this sort of humiliation happens frequently to musicians,” said Esssin. “Music professors and even well-known singers are sometimes subject to this mistreatment,” he said, referring to the disadvantageous labor conditions for musicians.

A former member of a K-pop boy band, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed. “Singers with no names, who belong to the smaller entertainment agencies, are the most vulnerable members within the music production system. My K-pop group was basically forced to sing for free by our company and event organizers. We had to perform many times with no income, just waiting for the day we’d hit fame.”

Source

For many young women in Korea, becoming a K-pop idol is a dream. But once they sign a contract with an entertainment company, they find there is a lot more to pay than just hard work and persistence. Female trainees are traded by brokers and are allegedly brought to bars and forced to engage in sexual work to get ahead, even if they are still minors. One ex-trainee claimed in an interview that the going rate for a “meeting” with a female trainee was $220, while very young trainees, or those signed with a prominent label, cost between $700-900.

Source

There is more to it than this. Just google it. I just heard about this kind of stuff and it is pretty sad. Some K-pop artists have went as far as to commit suicide because of the abuse. I'm sure this kind of stuff happens here in the US behind closed doors. I have heard plenty about "music video girls" for rap songs but one wouldn't think this with K-pop stars as many of them are quite younger, some are even minors.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Yeah, this isn't any surprise with the way South Korea is run and everything, and when you count in their culture, not meaning that in a bad way, it shouldn't be shocking, but it is. I have heard that artist who speak out against such abuse and everything end up getting blackballed and end up leaving South Korea as a whole, and the suicides tend to go "unnoticed".

 

[Solid Snake]

Yeah, this isn't any surprise with the way South Korea is run and everything, and when you count in their culture, not meaning that in a bad way, it shouldn't be shocking, but it is. I have heard that artist who speak out against such abuse and everything end up getting blackballed and end up leaving South Korea as a whole, and the suicides tend to go "unnoticed".

This is all news to me as of recently but you are right, it shouldn't be real surprising. The fans over there are nuts too so if you say anything about their favorite K-pop artist, they will actually send you death threats.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

This is all news to me as of recently but you are right, it shouldn't be real surprising. The fans over there are nuts too so if you say anything about their favorite K-pop artist, they will actually send you death threats.

Oh yeah, K-Pop fans are worse than CM Punk fans, lol, but yeah I have read where a producer for one of them spoke out how he thought some of them were just rude people, and he got a bunch of death threats as well as I have read/heard of people getting Swatted for simply saying K-Pop is lame or anything on that line as well.

 

[Solid Snake]

Oh yeah, K-Pop fans are worse than CM Punk fans, lol, but yeah I have read where a producer for one of them spoke out how he thought some of them were just rude people, and he got a bunch of death threats as well as I have read/heard of people getting Swatted for simply saying K-Pop is lame or anything on that line as well.

I was once a Punk fan... But never a Phil fan, so I was okay. lolol

 

[MildlyUpsetGerbil]

The fans over there are nuts

I'd argue that anything with a reasonably large fanbase will have a buttload of crazy fans.

I was once a Punk fan

Punk is alright, though I generally prefer other types of rock.