![]() Hangeng is not the only idol to receive little payment for the work that he put into becoming an entertainer. Hangeng sued SM Entertainment in 2009 citing the unreasonable provisions in his contract The exceptionally long length of the contract alone is unethical, but the fact that Hangeng publicly stated that he only received about 4,000 yuan in pay after his first year of performing makes me comfortable to say that the system is exploitative of its assets (Allkpop, 2013). (Star News article, 2009, cited in Wikipedia) Along with this, it was disclosed that because of SM Entertainment’s refusal to give him a day off in over two years, he had developed gastritis and kidney disease. The contract had provisions in SM Entertainment’s favor, the 13-year contract length was unlawful, it would take an unfair sum of money to end the contract, he was not allowed to request to revise his contract, he was forced to do things that were not in his contract, he was forced to do things against his will, he was fined if he disobeyed the company, missed any events or was late, and there was unfair profit distribution. Eventually he filed a lawsuit against the entertainment house because his health began to suffer, alongside several other complaints of an unfair slave contract: Hangeng stated that he initially signed on to become a trainee for SM in order to financially help his family (Allkpop, 2013). A well-publicized case is that of Hangeng against his former agency, SM Entertainment. Why do idols sign these contracts? There is no simple answer, but it may be a combination of the young age at which trainees begin the process along with the promise of money. This is not an exhaustive list of all that a “slave contract” entails no one can know all of the details due to the confidential nature of such contracts, but these are the provisions that generate the most concern. It has been well circulated throughout the Internet that the typical contract between an aspiring idol and his or her management is lengthy, allows for little personal freedom such as dating or vacation days, feature packed schedules, and perhaps most glaringly, do not promise when or even if the trainee debuts. In discussing the hardships that idols face, a familiar topic is the slave contract. Regardless of the cultural differences, the difference in work ethic, and the demands of the insatiable fans, K-pop idols are treated unethically and commoditized by their management, which is a problem that is unlikely to drastically change due the constant high demand for new entertainment content and high supply of aspiring K-pop idols. From the training process to debuting to sustaining a career for as long as possible, the K-pop idol answers always to the management company, many times under unfair conditions.īased on what makes it into the news, I find that the K-pop industry is unethical to and even exploitative of its idols. There is of course, “idol factory” also evokes the sense that the idols are pumped out from the K-pop factory like products from an assembly line, which begs the question of whether or not the management system is ethical enough. It seems natural then, that some media have referred to the K-Pop management houses as “idol factories”, a metaphor that suggests that the system is labor intensive and follows a formula for success. ![]() ![]() And it seems that no matter what stage they are in their careers, the idols are always working as much as possible, no doubt due to the relatively short shelf life of an entertainer. We have all heard stories about long training periods, about restrictive “slave contracts”, and idols being forced to perform under less than ideal circumstances. In this class we discussed how idols in the Korean entertainment industry are groomed to be perfect, total-package entertainers through methods of careful selection, rigorous training, appearance management, and event-packed schedules.
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