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[12.03.13] T-ara finally receives their long deserved vacation


nathaniel

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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.

Problem is Kim Kwang Su will probably oppose any attempt in renegotiating with them regarding the contracts. It's more than just slavery - it's abuse. The man literally is a son of the devil. He's not going to give them anything more until T-ara somehow replaces SNSD as the top national girl idol group in Korea - which is a delusional and impossible goal at the least (hell, SM's higher ups are probably going to laugh at him for trying to do so).

Now, the girls may be young at this stage but having to go work 3 years without a single break is simply overboard - even the South Korean military treats its recruits better than that and their training regime is seen as incredibly rigorous by even international standards. There's a limit to how long one can tolerate pain.

The only thing the girls can do to get a longer break is to leave CCM through a lawsuit or if Kim Kwang Su somehow miraculously resigns or pops his clogs and drops dead.

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Problem is Kim Kwang Su will probably oppose any attempt in renegotiating with them regarding the contracts. It's more than just slavery - it's abuse. The man literally is a son of the devil. He's not going to give them anything more until T-ara somehow replaces SNSD as the top national girl idol group in Korea - which is a delusional and impossible goal at the least (hell, SM's higher ups are probably going to laugh at him for trying to do so).

Now, the girls may be young at this stage but having to go work 3 years without a single break is simply overboard - even the South Korean military treats its recruits better than that and their training regime is seen as incredibly rigorous by even international standards. There's a limit to how long one can tolerate pain.

The only thing the girls can do to get a longer break is to leave CCM through a lawsuit or if Kim Kwang Su somehow miraculously resigns or pops his clogs and drops dead.

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.

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oh no... wonder how would jiyeon feel when she learned her vacation was to be interrupted due to filming? after working endlessly for so long i think they would deserve more than just afew days off =( anyway, am just glad they were given the chance to rest at all. Stay healthy girls!

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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.

You're correct that the idol business has a 'shelf life' indeed - but even so, it was CCM's damn fault for not trying to get the more lacking T-ara members (Qri, Boram and possibly even Hwa Young) reach their maximum potential or promoting them as heavily. Some of SNSD's members were on the same position as Qri and Boram in terms of talent but gradually over time, SM made the effort in promoting them, giving them actual lines and parts in songs and the such - and SNSD doesn't face the danger of seeing any members being given the sack.

I agree with you that the girls have probably made quite a lot of money but depending on the contract, they would only get betwen 5 to 15% of the profit they earn, maybe even less. The money they make is probably enough to keep them away from starving (but hey, they probably don't even get regular meals due to the schedule) and buying new clothes but definitely not enough to say, buy a new car or house. This may be recognizable by their dorms - at best, their dorm is pretty much average and if one may say, even somewhat small for 7 people to move around freely and all. Even SM provides better accomodation despite having larger groups. Hell, even my aunt, her husband and two children live at a much wider apartment than T-ara does and her husband's income is nowhere near what T-ara earns each year.

It's understandable a portion of the profit they earn does have to go the company though - CCM needs money to pay other employees and contractors (receptionists, managers, trainers, composers etc.) while also maintaining infrastructure, living costs of the idols, marketing and the such. Though obviously, as you say, KKS is the one who takes a disproportionate amount - money he doesn't deserve.

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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 is true. But having healthy & happy employees will lead to better productivity = potential longer shelf life as apposed to working them to the bone leading to miserable and completely burn out employees = shorter than expected shelf life.

That is why I said in the other thread, that for someone with 30 years of experience, KKS sure has dreadful man-management skills. He doesn't treat the girls as human beings. :( He is basically a tyrant.

I'm assuming the girls are back from their so-called break now. I wonder how they are taking the news.

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That is true. But having healthy & happy employees will lead to better productivity = potential longer shelf life as apposed to working them to the bone leading to miserable and completely burn out employees = shorter than expected shelf life.

That is why I said in the other thread, that for someone with 30 years of experience, KKS sure has dreadful man-management skills. He doesn't treat the girls as human beings. :( He is basically a tyrant.

I'm assuming the girls are back from their so-called break now. I wonder how they are taking the news.

Being an employee of a major company, I agree with you - healthy and happy employees leads to better productivity in most, if not all levels.

I'd also like to note that KKS's 30 years of experience is all a pretty moot point and nothing more than just an excuse to get away with what he does - KKS himself was never an entertainer unlike the founders of the Big Three (YG, JYP and SM). The guy clearly has very little to no idea about what celebrities think about inside their heads and how their mentality works, yet alone even gives a damn. This is the one of the biggest gaps (if not, THE biggest) between him and the Big Three, whom he is obviously desperate to win against (or one of them) one way or another - SM is probably his target since SNSD is currently the top national idol girl group in Korea.

YG, JYP and SM all at least know how the mentality of their idols works and they know when to give appropriate time to rest and refit (mostly anyway since cases like DBSK, Jay Park etc. are an exception). They're more than just your typical businessman looking for profit. Far more. They all went through their youthful years as famous celebrities themselves - Kim Kwang Su clearly has not. T-ara's only going to hurt themselves a lot more if they continue to stay under that piece of sh*t - they need a CEO who's had first hand experience as a celebrity him/herself.

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Being an employee of a major company, I agree with you - healthy and happy employees leads to better productivity in most, if not all levels.

I'd also like to note that KKS's 30 years of experience is all a pretty moot point and nothing more than just an excuse to get away with what he does - KKS himself was never an entertainer unlike the founders of the Big Three (YG, JYP and SM). The guy clearly has very little to no idea about what celebrities think about inside their heads and how their mentality works, yet alone even gives a damn. This is the one of the biggest gaps (if not, THE biggest) between him and the Big Three, whom he is obviously desperate to win against (or one of them) one way or another - SM is probably his target since SNSD is currently the top national idol girl group in Korea.

YG, JYP and SM all at least know how the mentality of their idols works and they know when to give appropriate time to rest and refit (mostly anyway since cases like DBSK, Jay Park etc. are an exception). They're more than just your typical businessman looking for profit. Far more. They all went through their youthful years as famous celebrities themselves - Kim Kwang Su clearly has not. T-ara's only going to hurt themselves a lot more if they continue to stay under that piece of sh*t - they need a CEO who's had first hand experience as a celebrity him/herself.

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.

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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.

Fully agree with you there.

Putting a major change in the members will definitely piss off the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of fans, whom are also the major source of income for both T-ara and CCM itself. This move is also bound to heavily affect the second album and its promotions scheduled for summer, and quite possibly, the Japanese album in June as well.

By the way, could you provide any source that SNSD made 70 billion won from 2009 to 2011? For some reason, the figure seems a bit low, considering they made at least $17 million (18 billion won) in their Arena Tour in Japan in 2011 alone.

Frankly, even if he puts more effort on marketing, quality of music production and among other things, it's still not going to be able to enough to overtake SNSD in profit, especially considering that SM has got more money, influence and connections (AND is very good at business and promoting) than CCM by a massive margin. If anything, it's only going to provoke SM to go even further.

Not to mention a large portion of the money CCM squeezes has to go to maintaining its own TV channel - which is something that the Big Three do not have or need to worry about.

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Fully agree with you there.

Putting a major change in the members will definitely piss off the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of fans, whom are also the major source of income for both T-ara and CCM itself. This move is also bound to heavily affect the second album and its promotions scheduled for summer, and quite possibly, the Japanese album in June as well.

By the way, could you provide any source that SNSD made 70 billion won from 2009 to 2011? For some reason, the figure seems a bit low, considering they made at least $17 million (18 billion won) in their Arena Tour in Japan in 2011 alone.

Frankly, even if he puts more effort on marketing, quality of music production and among other things, it's still not going to be able to enough to overtake SNSD in profit, especially considering that SM has got more money, influence and connections (AND is very good at business and promoting) than CCM by a massive margin. If anything, it's only going to provoke SM to go even further.

Not to mention a large portion of the money CCM squeezes has to go to maintaining its own TV channel - which is something that the Big Three do not have or need to worry about.

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.

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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.

Ah right, thanks for the info :)

Just skimmed through the article and saw that the amount of money made from their Japanese promotions wasn't included in the figure lol.

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It's a bit sad for Jiyeon, she still doesn't even get a proper "vacation" no matter how short the "vacation" is. And she's definitely one of the most hard working members in T-ara, but that's not the say the rest aren't hard working. T-ara is really a hard working and talented bunch, and it's sad that they don't get praises and encouragement from their seniors as much as other girl groups. :(( T-ara fighting!~

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