Kpop Lecture - Blog Posts
Did nct ever make sense financially:
But I want to explain why though
Nct was started as a group with infinite members. The goal was to have a male akb48
That being said the financial success of akb48 depended on the members doing various activities OUTSIDE of the group with an emphasis on practical safe and relatively inexpensive projects= consistent returns on investment.
Also the group's success depended on the group being well, actually successful.
S.m's marketing strategy is the opposite. The group is successful just by virtue of existing, they will get million invested in them regardless.
The group at least was thought of since the early 2010s when most of their members join. We know the group did not have a name and was simply a large collection of male trainee's. The group was basically a basket to keep their trainee's inside of. Don't worry if you do not make it into xyz group you can go to Nct.
Johnny was originally going to be a member of exo and was later placed in Nct, not the first round but in a later unit nct U.
It's actually very odd the thought and financial process of nct. Because unlike with akb48 it was not the direct intention to have the members do other projects and have seperate careers. It is the method of s.m to have people in groups for a majority of their career and then they can do other things. Unless you are lucky.
Also akb48 built up over time. It is a very old group, whereas nct gained lots of members quickly and the direction wasn't always decided or clear.
Like Akb48, Nct or SRB14 had a more direct and connected with the public image. They were not exo who were meant to be distant to create intrigue. They all had a pretty nice and approachable personality.
"AKB48 was founded as "idols you can meet".[4]Japanese idols are entertainers/performers who appeal directly to fans for support. Close interactions between fans and idols allow idols to cultivate and maintain loyal fan followings."
You won't remember Exo having a group youtube channel with weekly vlogs or having so many varieties even though they were a smaller group. Each group has a specialized team and marketing style.
AKB48 like nct had specialized teams as well
"According to former member Misaki Iwasa, each team has its own theme. Team A represents freedom; Team B is idol-like, with cute costumes, and Team K has a strong, powerful image"
AKB48 was very successful and had their own theater which would cut down on costs. The concepts were also more down to earth, they are more a performance troupe than an idol group. The focus is on entertaining the fans
Nct being a boy group inside of the kpop industry had a lot of competition and also they didn't have much of a pull besides having lots of members. They still had to travel and book venues and sellout stadiums to break even. Because boy bands are made to impress and show out. Of course lots of money is spent on expensive music videos, hotels, lots of staff, appearances at awards shows, top fashion for each member. Which is fine for a small group, but when the members keep growing and growing every year eventually getting into double digits; almost half the size of AKB48 in almost 1/3rd the amount of time, how is that sustainable?
It's not.
Simply put the more employees a company gains the more they spend paying their employees. If NCT is a company and the staff and members are the employees, then almost every year their costs increased. Even when they had good years, it was offset by the fact that their money would be paying for another unit. This is why s.m ent went so long without any other groups. And when they finally made a new group they took members already in NCT.
Add in the fact that there are some artists getting paid and sitting on the bench. They cannot afford to add them into a project or promote them. They can only bet on people they know will bring in money.
If they had brand new people that would be adding more and more people to the payroll, which at this point they likely can't afford. They would need a new project with already existing employees and have them double their workload--since they are the main ones bringing in money anyway, recycle in-house music and producers, and garner outside forces investing money on this dumpster fire to create something that would be profitable for the company. Send them to America so you can rack up the prices on tickets and merch cause Koreans sure won't go for this.
And...........that's how you get super m
okay now I'm done.
Also one more thing, the artists are not making money off the music, they make money other ways.
Spotify also takes a lot from the artists
Please, please stop streaming (too much music fries your brain) and bulk buying(is awful for the environment). The music industry has been dead, these artists are literal slaves. Good day.