Korean pop is without a doubt one of the most popular music genres in the world. Korean idols such as G-Dragon, CL, Jay Park, and Taeyang have all been successful domestically and internationally, but where does all this success come from? The answer to this is plain and simple, the fans. The power that the fans is enough to dictate the direction of how much success or failure a Korean idol has during their career.
The fans are the main sources of income for Korean idols by their contribution of following them on social media, buying their music, and attending their concerts. Therefore, this allows Korean stars to take part in TV shows, advertisements, and receive sponsorship deals from big branded companies. According to James Turnbull, “it is only logical to hire celebrities with the widest possible fanbase”, which shows how important it is for Korean idols to maintain and attract more fans (Turnball 2017: 129). In addition, Korean idols do not make a lot of money from their entertainment companies because they must pay a “break even” (SBS PopAsia HQ 2018). According to an article by SBS PopAsian HQ from January 29th, 2018, a break even is when “all the money earned by its idols go towards paying back all the money invested in them, such as training, food, accommodation, staff, and production of MVs”. Based on this information, it shows that Korean stars don’t make a lot of money until they’ve fully paid back their entertainment companies, which is why it’s important for them to have a large fan base to receive offers from talk shows, advertisements, and sponsors to be more financially stable.
However, fans can also damage a Korean idol’s career by starting scandals, which sometimes causes them to be removed from entertainment companies, advertisements, sponsorship deals, and TV shows. Scandals can range from plagiarism, relationship rumors, and illegal activities to bring down an idol’s reputation. According to The Chosun Ilbo, Baek Ji-Young had her sex tape leaked on the internet with her former manager, which caused her not to be broadcasted on TV anymore because “a producer told me that it would be hard for me to appear on TV again” due to the huge disappointment from the fans. This goes to show how much of an impact scandals can have on an idol’s career.
To prevent scandals and secure their large fanbase, an “idol will do everything, anything for the fans because that’s the only reason for them to exist” (CBC News 2018). Therefore, Korean idols would host meet and greets, post fan appreciation
threads on their social medias, taking pictures with them and much more. In addition, Korean idols must always act in a professional way because the little things can stir problems, which leads to scandals.
In conclusion, fans have a lot power in determining how much success or failure a Korean idol has during their career. Therefore, it’s important for Korean idols to please their fanbase because they determine their success and their financial stability in the K-pop industry.
SBS PopAsia HQ. “How much money a K-pop idol makes (according to a former K-pop idol).” SBS, Jan. 29, 2018. https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2018/01/29/how-much-money-k-pop-idol-makes-according-former-k-pop-idol.
The Chosun Ilbo. “Baek Ji-Young Smiles Again After Six Years After Sex Scandal.” Chosun, May. 19, 2006. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/19/2006051961009.html.
Turnbull, James. “Just beautiful people holding a bottle: the driving forces behind South Korea’s love of celebrity endorsement.” Routhledge Taylor & Francis Group, Vol. 8, No.1 (2017): 128-135.
Wong, Jessica. “The punishing pressures behind K-pop perfection.” CBC News, Feb. 24, 2018. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/kpop-hard-life-1.4545627.
I agree with you Jonathan! The amount of influence an idol holds is constructed by the impact and strength of his fanbase. Not only do they decide the popularity of the idols, but also determines their commercial values. The commercial value is the utmost important aspect to consider when determining success of a public figure. A stronger fanbase will provide more publicity, more appearances in programs, attracting more fans, and then in turn receiving even more endorsement opportunities and increase in commercial values. These are all the reasons why idols work hard to establish and expand their fanbase even before they actually debut. Companies will also help new groups to establish a fan base by putting new groups or new idols in the same tv show or program with their idols that already has a fanbase. Like in the case of CNBlue, prior to their debut in Korea, the leader Jung Yong-Hwa participated in a popular drama “You Are Beautiful” with Ftisland’s Lee Hong-Gi, both of them were from FNC entertainment.
I also agree with your point on how fans can damage an idol’s career. Surely we’ve all seen cases where overenthusiastic fans can lead to bad reputations, words spreads quicker now that everyone utilizes Twitter and Tumblr to get their news updates. Idols must try to be perfect at all times: saying all the right things, having the right smile, never be impatient or rude, and show the public what they expect to see. It is difficult to get back in the game once you fall out from it, like your example with Baek Ji-Young, once the public has a negative impression of you, it is difficult to find ones way back into the audiences’ hearts.
I completely agree with everything you have said. Fans are the ones keeping artists employed. These people invest most of their time, money, and energy in buying albums, streaming music videos on YouTube and songs on various music sites, voting, or promoting them on social media, and attending concerts/fan events.
Non-K-pop fans also do these but not as extreme as K-pop fans. Unlike Western fans, K-pop fans, particularly Korean fans, hold so much power over their idols to the point entertainment companies take their demands and suggestions into consideration. A great example of this is when Super Junior fans were enraged at Henry’s appearance in the music video of “Don’t Don” to the point they bought company stocks in order to prevent the company to add more members into the group. Last year, the same fandom issued a boycott against the group because they want Gangin and Seongmin out of the group for committing DUI once again and for getting married respectively. In short, fans can make and break their idols’ careers.
On the other hand, fans are very supportive when their idols leave their own groups/their company. For instance, Jay Park would not had returned to South Korea if it was not for his fans unwavering support. JYJ formed their own group after filing a lawsuit against SM back in 2009, which had compelled them to leave TVXQ! and SM. In spite of the ban imposed on the group, the fans had managed to make JYJ one of the best-selling groups in terms of physical album sales and concert ticket sales of all time.
To summarize, fans’ undying devotion for their idols are two of the key factors in making idols “superstars”. However, these two things may hurt someone’s career because extreme admiration can sadly turn, in some cases, into entitlement. This explains why artists and their companies try their best not to upset fans because the last thing they would want is a fan turning into an anti-fan. Fans are the ones who give light to these stars and also be the ones who take away that light.