Music Blog

Recently Allkpop put up an article about how low artists get paid through major streaming sites. JTBC reported that artists get 6% from these sites. Now this is now surprise for those who know about the business. Now AllKpop has done many article like this, so to some this may not be a surprise but for those who are new and don’t know it may be a shock.

Record labels do a lot more than what an artist does. Yes the artists is performing the songs but someone in the label (i hope) is the one setting up the tour dates, when they are going to release the album, when the music video is being released, etc. A label can invest between $500,000-$2,000,000 in artist development fees, which include making the album, having 1-2 music videos for the album, promotions, etc. The label has to get that money back from someplace. So It’s not just the artists that is working hard, it’s everyone from the label to the artist. That’s why a lot of artists are apart of the production process or they make and distribute their own music so that they can get more money. So yes it is sad to see someone work tirelessly day after day and not get anything in exchange.

Imagine this:

According to Techdirt.com,

A band gets $1 million in advanced from their label to make an album. 

“They spend half a million to record their album. That leaves the band with $500,000. They pay $100,000 to their manager for 20 percent commission. They pay $25,000 each to their lawyer and business manager. That leaves $350,000 for the four band members to split. After $170,000 in taxes, there’s $180,000 left. That comes out to $45,000 per person. That’s $45,000 to live on for a year until the record gets released. The record is a big hit and sells a million copies. (How a bidding-war band sells a million copies of its debut record is another rant entirely, but it’s based on any basic civics-class knowledge that any of us have about cartels. Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National Park Service.) So, this band releases two singles and makes two videos. The two videos cost a million dollars to make and 50 percent of the video production costs are recouped out of the band’s royalties. The band gets $200,000 in tour support, which is 100 percent recoupable. The record company spends $300,000 on independent radio promotion. You have to pay independent promotion to get your song on the radio; independent promotion is a system where the record companies use middlemen so they can pretend not to know that radio stations – the unified broadcast system – are getting paid to play their records. All of those independent promotion costs are charged to the band. Since the original million-dollar advance is also recoupable, the band owes $2 million to the record company. If all of the million records are sold at full price with no discounts or record clubs, the band earns $2 million in royalties, since their 20 percent royalty works out to $2 a record. Two million dollars in royalties minus $2 million in recoupable expenses equals … zero!” Via Techdirt.com

This is the best example I can give you so that you can see what is actually going on in the industry and not have a biased opinion because your favorite artist/group is not getting the money they deserve. 

Imagine if they don’t make back any of the money the company invested. they’re definitely not going to be paid.

Granted I don’t know how it normally is in S.Korea, the company may be the ones that set everything up for their artist/group but I’m pretty sure it’s similar. 

We’re only seeing what we are shown. No one knows what the CEO of a company is really doing. This is still a business and the company needs money so the artists can live out their dream. 

To read contracts before you sign them because you may be stuck in a situation you could’ve avoided if you just read the contract before you signed it. 

JJ Project - Tomorrow, Today (내일, 오늘) 

I seriously need majority of you to stop playing victim. I’m tired of hearing about culture appropriation on hairstyles when you know that they are NOT claiming a HAIRSTYLE as their own. Now we have our favorite members or anyone afraid to do anything because of you. This honestly needs to stop!!!! It’s highly annoying and embarrassing. And you all know that majority of you culture appropriate just the same so like I said you need to stop trying to play victim!!!! We have people apologizing for no damn reason and it saddens me to see it come to this point. So from one back K-pop fan to another STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don’t see white people complaining about the damn mullet or any other style…. Stop taking offense to everything!

You make the rest of us look bad…..

Why can’t we just embrace it and see it as, ‘yes our hairstyles are popular because other races want to do it’ rather than call it culture appropriation?

Edit: Based on the response I’ve gotten, I’ve noticed that when someone asks a question on why, you’re ready to throw the race card in. Now I want to ask you these questions, why do you think that way, is it because society told you to? Is it because history told you to? Why? I know full well on what happened in history but I choose not to live my life based on what history or society has told me to say or do. Who says that I have to? Again, society? History? The only person who can choose how I can see the world is me, if you want to see the world as color go ahead, if you want to see it as black and white, go ahead. I’ve decided to stop because apparently voicing my opinion and frustration on the matter is against what my culture believes so I’m automatically deemed ignorant and narrow minded. 

 I’ve asked MULTIPLE people if they would have an issue with this and they’ve said no they wouldn’t, so are they ignorant and narrow minded also? What makes black hair only for black people? Who wrote that rule? Where is it written that they can’t do a hairstyle. History has NOTHING to do with it. But it has everything to do with the color of their skin. So I ask you, who says black hairstyles is strictly for black people? 

 I guess my culture is different from yours because I grew up believing that hair was just hair and nothing else. Not history’s or society’s. 

G-Dragon recently came out with a USB “album” and Gaon Music chart stated that they will not be considering the USB to be apart of album sales and G-Dragon had a few words to say about that. (Click here if you want to read what he said). 

For those of you who don’t know what an album is, it’s a “collection of recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, or another medium.” The reason why Gaon decided NOT to count is “album” is because it’s not. Sorry to break it to you GD fans but it’s NOT an album. It’s more like a Digital album.

The most important reason is, stay with me here, The album doesn’t have direct music on it. For those of you who don’t know, the USB Flash-drive consist of one download link to the songs that need to be downloaded onto your computer. Let me say that again for those of you who didn’t get it the first time I said it. The USB flash-drive consist of ONE DOWNLOAD LINK TO THE SONGS, in which you need to DOWNLOAD THEM onto your computer. Now if the songs were directly onto the USB than it could be considered as an album, but since people have to go through great lengths just to get the songs it is considered as a Digital album.

Think of it this way…first you buy the USB, then plug said USB into computer (if you don’t nave a USB drive on your computer and don’t have an adapter, then you’d have to buy one) after plugging it in, click on USB icon to then click on link to get to a page to download said songs onto computer. Rather than purchasing USB, plugging it into computer than file dropping said songs onto computer. Which one would you choose? 

My main issue with this is the fact that he is actually offended that Gaon chart wouldn’t accept it as an album. He of all people should know that IT’S NOT AN ALBUM! Like dude you work in the industry, you should know what an album is and what is not. Like I feel like when nothing goes his way he tries to use his fame to make a change just because someone said no. Seriously you should know better as an musician and as an artist. Just because you say you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Don’t get me wrong the idea is great (even though he isn’t the first) the way he executed the idea was horrible.