DBSK income division: WTF?
DBSK income division: WTF?
Following the recent court decision in support of DBSK members Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu in their lawsuit against SM Entertainment, the official figures for DBSK’s income division were officially released today. And they aren’t pretty.
Even prior to the case, there has been much speculation regarding SM Entertainment’ treatment towards its artists, ranging from simple financial issues to allegations of director Lee Soo Man’s physical abuse towards artists. There has been very little substantial evidence for such claims thus far… until now.
The following is a summary of DBSK’s contract since their debut in late 2003. One will see that, in sum, the DBSK members have financially earned close to nothing from their six years of work–almost no profit from album sales, DVD sales, television appearances, concert performances–you name it. Virtually all revenue generated from DBSK products have gone straight to SM.
The contract has been revised five times since then–the summary below reflects these changes.
1) “DBSK has received $0 for their album sales prior to July 2008, and only a negligible amount after that date.”
Prior to late 2008, DBSK’s contract states that no member will earn any profit off of any album that sells less than 500,000 copies. Despite their success and consumption throughout Asia at the time of release, none of DBSK’s albums have hit that 500,000 mark. Therefore, prior to July of 2008, DBSK members have earned nothing off of sales from their first album in 2004 to their most recent Korean album in 2008, as well as the numerous albums and singles in between.
On July 1st, 2008, DBSK’s contract was modified so that each member would receive 1% of profit for every album that sold over 200,000 copies. Anything below that would earn them 0%-0.6%. Despite this modification, however, SM has failed to follow through with this policy, therefore leaving the members with a 0% profit, regardless.
In sum, DBSK members have earned 0% of any revenue earned off of the sale of all of their albums and singles prior to 2008, and SM has therefore kept 95%+ of all DBSK album-generated profit since their debut.
2) “DBSK has received $0 for the sales of concert DVDs and albums featuring recordings from such concerts.”
SM Entertainment has released four concert DVDs of DBSK’s Japan tours, as well as three audio recordings of their Asia tour concerts. All of DBSK’s concert DVDs—including everything from their first live tour recording from 2005 to their Tokyo Dome final released last month—are still ranking in Japan’s Oricon charts today and still generating profit. However, DBSK members have not seen a single cent of revenue from these sales or from the sales of their live audio recordings from their Asia tours.
3) “DBSK has received $0 for their appearances on TV programs.”
DBSK is not entitled to any profit for any appearance if the appearance is of a ‘temporary nature.’ As one might recall, no DBSK member has become a ‘permanent guest’ on any variety or talk show, unlike some other k-pop celebrities. Therefore, since all of DBSK’s television appearances have been considered ‘guest appearances’ and therefore are considered ‘temporary,’ SM has collected all profits generated from any DBSK television appearance since debut.
4) “For all other possible sources of revenue, SM subtracts from the total revenue all expenses, including salaries of other staff, stage preparation expenses, rent, travel expenses, food expenses, and the like, then gives TVXQ only a fraction of the remaining amount.”
For any other profit earned by the members that doesn’t fall into any of the aforementioned categories (i.e. their All About DBSK or History in Japan DVD series, Vacation drama miniseries, etc.), SM determines the amount of money that should be subtracted in order to pay off ‘living costs.’
Like many other K-pop stars, DBSK’s living situation is almost entirely under SM’s control, as they are essentially living and working off of SM property. SM takes money directly out of DBSK’s salary to provide for their:
-Housing (including rent, electricity/water bills, maintenance, furniture, etc.)
-Performing stage preparation costs (venue reservation and the like)
-Staff salaries (including that of the manager, stylists, makeup artists, backup dancers, choreographers, etc.)
-Travel expenses (including plane tickets and hotel reservations)
-Food
These expenses are traditionally paid for by the manager. This is not the case with DBSK’s contract. In addition, SM is still entitled to take whatever they wish from the remainder of DBSK’s salary after the deduction for the above expenses, leaving DBSK members with even less. Some have argued that DBSK’s financial situation is not that dire under the false belief that DBSK’s living/travel/performing expenses are all paid for by SM Entertainment, and that their salary has thus been unaffected. According to the facts presented above, this is not the case.
The legal decision earlier this week was determined after these figures were revealed to the court. The court found that the details outlined in the contract were “unconscionable and against public policy,” thus granting DBSK’s first victory in this lawsuit saga. Following this decision, the three DBSK members will be petitioning to gain proper compensation for their six years of work.
Well, we all knew that it was bad enough for DBSK to sue…but did we know it was this bad? The numbers pretty much speak for themselves. As a DBSK fan, I’m saddened. As a K-pop aficionado, I’m disgusted. Either way, I’m disappointed…and I’ll be saving my commentary for an upcoming op-ed. But for now, chew on these questions: If this is indeed the truth, then how much more is the K-pop business world hiding? Do you think JYP and YG have similar gigs going on? Is this an SM problem or a cultural problem? What do you think?
Source: [DNBN]
Translation credits: Inklette@DNBN.pe.kr
Lee Su Man is another Korean shameful feature. I heard that he went Seoul Unversity which is the best university in Korea and I never saw any un-greedy graduates from that university. They use their good brain to steal money from others legally, very cunning.
Most koreans like money very much, more than themselves. They love money and are slaves to money. Lee su man is one terrible example.
I’m just very sorry for DBSK and other artists under Lee su man. I wonder Lee su man is a gang member? Why he hit his artists? He better hit himself.
He maybe a excellent business man but he is a terrible human being. I believe The God will never foregive him if he keep stealing money from his artists by making such a very unfair contract. No matter whether he go to the church or not.
Most church people in korea are very greedy too. They justify their being greedy is for the God. Even prists in churchs are greedy too. They ask money from their believers. Then use the collected money for their family, not for churches.
Anyway, if Lee su man think he is ok as long as he doing good business, that’s wrong. He’s business will go down for sure and he will be sorry. I like to say to him that YOU BETTER BE A BETTER HUMAN BEING!! OR THE GOD WILL DEFINITELY PUNISH YOU!! IF NOT YOUR TIME BUT YOUR CHILREN, GRAND-CHILDREN TIME!!
I really hope that he can read this!! I’m very up-set!! I’m Korean too, but he make me feel shameful for being Korean!! I remember him seeing on TV program when I was in Korea about 15 years ago. He was a poor young singer at that time. He looked sincere and honest and likable person at that time. Now he is just a MONSTER!!!!