The K-pop industry is a music industry like any other industry in the world. It produces groups and artists who dream of singing and dancing on stage in South Korea. The K-pop industry is a rough industry for artists and aspiring artists. It produces the highest quality and production of content. The export of K-pop has made the K-pop industry worth five billion dollars. It’s a term known as Hallyu, which is the spread of the Korean wave or Korean culture. The Hallyu wave has spread Korean dramas, Korean food, and Korean beauty globally making South Korea a global cultural hotspot. The heart of this growth and achievement lies within the K-pop industry (Romano, 2018). The industry creates amazing music, and groups who are both talented and entertaining. The industry has spread Korean culture around the world connecting everyone worldwide, but at what cost? The K-pop industry has a dark side making it tough for artists to survive. The K-pop industry endorses a harsh training program for aspiring artists, utilizes slave contracts to enslave their artists to strict rules limiting artists to private lives, and also makes individuals involved in the K-pop industry live a harsh and brutal lifestyle causing serious health issues.
K-pop, known as Korean pop music has become super popular to global audiences. It has become a global phenomenon due to its blend of melodies, choreography, and high production videos. K-pop is a genre utilizing hip-hop, pop, and rock influences. K-pop songs in particular will have sections of rapping and singing. Performers of K-pop consist of boy and girl groups between the ages of 15 to 23 (Romano, 2018). The K-pop industry is run by entertainment labels that put together boy and girl groups. Each of these companies contribute to the K-pop industry by producing groups and singers. Each of these entertainment labels have a stock of trainees who are individuals preparing to become K-pop performers. These trainees are individuals around age 10 who are recruited and trained for many years in singing, and dancing. Many trainees wish to sign with the three biggest entertainment labels in K-pop which are SM, YG, and JYP Entertainment. However, there are tons of K-pop entertainment labels out there. If the trainees are successful in their training, then they will be selected by the entertainment label to join a group with other members who also passed training successfully (O'Flynn, 2018). These entertainment labels manufacture the groups names, concepts, and music.
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Before being able to set foot into the K-pop industry, individuals must first become a trainee. A trainee is an individual who is training to become a performer who isn’t known to the public. Most trainees on average train for eight years studying dance, singing, acting, and languages. Trainee life is rigorous and difficult however. There are hundreds of trainees competing for a spot in a new group. Most of the trainees are juggling school and training at the same time which is almost near impossible to balance. Trainees are also often put on strict diets and must maintain a specific weight, or they are cut from the program. The trainees are weighed every few days and are monitored closely (Zaugg, 2018). Most trainees eat only one meal a day or go on crazy meal plans which is very dangerous and restrictive.
Not every trainee gets to be in a K-pop group. Many trainees train for years but end up being let go by their entertainment agency, which leaves the trainees in debt and in sorrow. Jo Kwon who was a trainee for eight years developed clinical depression due to the fear of never being able to join a boy group (Padget, 2017). Trainees also face abuse if they make mistakes. Jay Park, a popular singer talked about the abuse he faced while he was a trainee. He confessed that the system would kill creativity and individuality. He also faced physical and verbal abuse if he didn’t sing or dance properly. He stated: “The culture in itself was kind of like when you get certain lyrics wrong or you get a certain dance move wrong, they would literally hit you”. According to a former trainee named Neil Hannigan, many girls would harm themselves in order to cope with the pressure they felt as trainees. Many of the entertainment labels show a lack of concern for these individuals which just shows how harsh and rough the K-pop industry really is.
Entertainment labels invest about $100,000 into each trainee per year for vocal, dance, acting, and language lessons. The trainees who succeed join a group, and the revenue they generate goes back into the debt spent on the trainees, allowing entertainment labels to recoup their initial investment (Zaugg, 2018). Many trainees who join a group will not make money in the beginning until their debt is clear, which could take years. Some trainees will train for years and not be able to join a group due to fierce competition. Most agencies will create girl and boy groups every three years, limiting the number of spots for trainees. Most trainees never know when they will be able to debut and become a performer. Some agencies will kick out trainees if they are no longer fit or are lacking (Chua, 2017). Trainees are also limited to a private life as well, even though they are young and not in the lime light. Trainees are also forbidden to be in relationships and must always be on harsh diets (O’Flynn, 2018). A trainee named Jessica Lee revealed, I was only 13. It was extremely tiring. I couldn’t handle it. I had to lose weight. I couldn’t eat. This highlights the harshness of the rigorous training program in the K-pop industry.
To be accepted as a trainee is also another harsh process. A popular singer named Rain had to dance for two hours straight to impress the CEO. A singer named Kiseop developed suicidal thoughts due to the repeated failed auditions. Most entertainment companies scout trainees on the streets purely on good looks with no regard for talent. Many trainees who are talented are dropped for trainees who are good looking. This is a very common practice in the K-pop industry which is very unfair. Many trainees outside of the county experience bullying, racism, discrimination, and culture shock. Trainees practice for a grueling fourteen hours a day on average to prepare for their monthly assessments, which is when trainees are judged on their singing and dancing. Trainees at this time still attend school making it harder to keep up, causing burnout and depression. Assault is also common among female trainees. Female trainees often witnessed men watching them practice and being bribed with money to meet them privately. In 2013, the CEO of Open World Entertainment was arrested for sexually abusing the trainees at his company (Padget, 2017). Many say that these trainees can quit, and don’t have to endure the training. However, most trainees can’t quit because they have signed a trainee contract that has not expired. The contracts for trainees are on average two to three years long. Most don’t leave due to the money that the entertainment label has invested into them, which leaves them trapped.
Once a trainee has become a member of a boy or girl group, they must sign a contract with their entertainment label. These contracts in the K-pop industry are known as slave contracts. These contracts are known to be very extreme and are as long as thirteen years (Seabrook 2012). In 2017, the South Koreas Fair Trade Commission demanded the entertainment labels to revise their extreme terms in their contracts (Padget, 2017). These contracts have been known to limit the freedom of artists. A huge entertainment company named SM Entertainment was sued by various groups over slave contracts. Han Geng was discovered by SM Entertainment and became a member of Super Junior in 2005. In 2009, he had sued the company and accused them of forcing him to sign a thirteen-year contract when he was a minor. He claimed that SM Entertainment only paid him a fraction of the earnings generated by the group. The company also made him work two years straight with no days off, leading him to develop kidney disease and gastritis. Three members of another girl group named KARA from DSP Entertainment sued their agency claiming that even though their group earned thousands of dollars, each member was given around one hundred dollars a month (Seabrook, 2012). In 2008, three members from TVXQ, which were super popular at the time, sued SM Entertainment stating that their 13 yearlong contracts were too restrictive, and made none of the profits generated from their group’s success. These contracts have an unfair way of distributing income to their artists. Slave contracts also limit artists to being able to date, leave their dorm, and visit family (Williamson, 2011). Two popular K-pop artists, Hyuna, and E’Dwan from CUBE Entertainment were fired from their agency due to their announced relationship, breaking the no dating rule of their contracts (Zaugg, 2018). Many say that these artists know what they are getting into when they sign these contracts. However, many who sign these contracts are minors who don’t fully understand a contract. Many are also given pressure to sign by their families and their entertainment label. The training program is very harsh and dangerous for young children who are just finding themselves.
Those in the K-pop industry live a harsh and dangerous lifestyle. The K-pop industry utilizes extreme tight schedules that will often injure artists. Due to the tight schedules, many K-pop artists on stage faint due to exhaustion. K-pop artists also get around two to three hours of sleep a day, or none at all when promoting albums. This often leads to injuries and deaths of artists. See Jeohye, a member from a boy group, died in a car crash in 2004 after being rushed to a recording event. The accident was caused due to the driver being exhausted from the excessive schedule. A similar situation occurred in 2014 when two members of Ladies Code unfortunately passed away after being involved in a car accident. The driver was exhausted due to the extensive schedule. This caused a national upset and made many fans and K-pop groups fire back at entertainment labels who treat their artists like garbage. Their lifestyle also causes injuries due to the amount of dancing these artists do. Lay, from a popular group called EXO had gotten injured multiple times in just eleven days, not allowing previous injuries to heal. When K-pop artists get injured, many are still forced to perform at concerts, and continue attending events. Kai, another member from EXO injured his ankle ligament during practice and was still required to perform. Artists must attend every event and must also attend to their appearance. K-pop artists are forced to go on extreme diets to maintain their weight. In the K-pop industry, many are encouraged to lose weight which leads to eating disorders. Many K-pop artists are required to lose weight before releasing an album. Not only are they required to keep their weight in check, but K-pop artists are often encouraged to receive plastic surgery by their agencies (Pudge, 2017). This lifestyle is detrimental to these artists, and just shows how the K-pop industry prioritizes money over the health and wellbeing of their artists.
The K-pop industry is a harsh place for every dreamer of music in South Korea. The K-pop industry has spread Korean culture around the world connecting fans worldwide despite the language barrier. It is a beautiful thing, but at what cost? The industry endorses a harsh training program, uses slave contracts with harsh terms and unfair expectations, and endorses a harsh lifestyle causing serious health issues. The K-pop industry controls its artists, restrict them to personal freedom, and is physically and mentally exhausting for individuals. The K-pop industry does create amazing music and groups, but behind the scenes, it is a rough industry to survive in.
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