ocgoodtimes

Well, you have to credit KKS for being pretty honest about his feelings. Most CEO's don't speak their mind publicly. Whether you agree with him or not is another story. In his mindset, which is very business-oriented, I think 1) T-ara, as a group, is what his brand focus is and he clearly doesn't want individual members' identities bigger than the group's; 2) he has this formulaeic view of what will make the group better--clearly he felt the group was lacking in singing talent and thus, he's bolstering the competency level by adding singing talent. Where he's insensitive is with the fans--obviously the fans have emotional attachments to the individuals, but a guy like KKS probably thinks, "oh well, they'll get used to it...it is what it is. I'll turn out good materials and the fans will be there." He's likely least sensitive with the members--to him they're just workhorses. Run them hard for as long as you can, and when it looks like they're not shoveling the cash in, then cut them loose so they can graze in the pasture like a retired racehorse. I personally think that these idols should try to cultivate their actiing skills, or other marketable skills, because they truly seem to have a 4-5 year shelf life. If you're a good actor/actress who can sell tickets at the theater, you can have a pretty nice career. But still, the dude is so blunt--I can't believe some of the stuff he lets out in the press.

KKS absolutely comes off as a jerk. Now, I'll play devil's advocate and say that the issues that KKS brings up--laziness, complacency, "idle-ness", etc.--would be problems for an idol-making company like CCM. So for a CEO to believe that these are things that are undesirable in one off his groups isn't necessarily wrong. In fact, I don't probably wouldn't disagree with a lot of his basic business principals. HOWEVER, that he would actually say these things in a public release is beyond me. I've dealt with CEO's from various companies and by-and-large, CEO's are tough-as-nails, can be heartless, but generally make decisions that make the most sense for the company and the shareholders. BUT, they I've never known any that go public with statements that are only meant for the boardroom because those same CEOs would come off as total a-holes. In KKS's case, I guess he doesn't care. I don't know if KKS has had or is having issues with the T-ara 7, but he sure did deliver a strong message to them. CCM certainly won't tolerate any prima donnas.

Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous--as well as Austria. Italy is a wonderful place to visit as well. That it took 10hrs to convince EJ is funny. It'd only take 2 nanoseconds to convince me (especially if it was Hyomin asking).

That number was reported on some SNSD web sites and I think they were citing government sources. You could find it, for example, on soshified.com.

KKS definitely sees this as a numbers game, no doubt. In the press they announced that SNSD has made 70B won (around $62MM) from 2009 through 2011/Q3. I'm sure T-ara is nowhere near that. But if KKS really aspires to get up to that level, profitably, he's probably thinking that he needs to do something more radical. I think he's better off focusing on the current line up and concentrating his efforts on marketing, the quality of music production, etc., rather than changing the line-up. If you alienate the current fan base, then he's going to have to 1) win back the number of fans that he's lost, which basically will cost him marketing dollars, and 2) he has to spend extra marketing dollars to increase the fan base. First rule of business growth: keep the business you currently have. Just reading the comments here, they really run the risk of losing fans--and it's the fan that provides revenue to an idol group.

KKS sure appears to be a real greedy SOB. I guess, on one hand, I understand the business side of things. Figure that the idol business has a "shelf life", and so you have to squeeze everything you can out of what you have for as long as you can. That would explain having the girls work around the clock until they burn out and can't perform anymore, or until their fans go away. That said, it's just cruel to treat the girls like dogs on a leash. I hope the girls are making pretty good money. If it were in the US, a performer getting as much publicity as what SNSD and these other idol groups are getting would be making millions. But somehow, i have a feeling that the only one making milions is probably KKS. I'm sure the girls aren't starving--but I don't think they're making what they deserve.

The agency probably makes more money when the girls are only doing music-related activities, though I'm sure the girls personally benefit by doing these "side jobs", like acting, commercials, etc.

This is slavery...I think they should renegotiate their contracts to include x-weeks of paid time-off. Luckily these girls are young and maybe can handle their hectic schedule. But they'll grow very quickly, I think.

Just seems like the management view these girls as replaceable employees. I think that the CEO wants to make sure that no one girl becomes "bigger" than the group. Maybe some girls, like Jiyeon for example, become too "valuable" and so they would never move them. But others might be moveable because they think it might make the chemistry of the group better or maybe they would get more marketing dollars from it. All this could also be a publicity stunt just to create buzz.