K-pop Singers Deserve to Receive Fantastic Salaries (Natasha_02PAG_1401073846)

What type of singers that teenagers nowadays are totally into? I am a hundred percent sure that most of them will answer with Korean-pop singers or often times abbreviated as K-pop. It is utterly true that K-pop fever is everywhere to be found. From kids, teenagers, even adults enjoy this type of music and the singers' appearance. However, according to statistics released by National Tax Service in Korea, K-pop singers are only paid 28,5 million won a year, which is 10 million won less than an annual income of office workers . I personally think they deserve better payment since they are the gold mine to the production houses which employ them. K-pop singers deserve great salaries because they often times work hard without resting, they are loyal to the production houses and they sacrifice almost everything to be remarkable singers.

First things first, K-pop singers are required to work almost 24 hours a day without resting. This is the first yet the most essential reason why they should be paid a great amount of money. In Korea, when K-pop singers launch their new albums or mini-albums, there is a period of time where they promote the albums massively. The kinds of promotion itself include performing in some famous television stations such as KBS, MBC and SBS, also by holding a fan meeting in some places. These things may sound simple, but it takes energy and time to finish this promotion. They usually work 24/7, which is exhausting. Some K-pop girl groups such as SNSD and Kara don't even wash thenselves when arriving at the dorm where they live. They directly collapse on the bed because of extreme exhaustion. This is kind of inhuman, considering they are merely normal teenage girls.

Second, higher payment should be rewarded to K-pop singers because of their loyalty. When first entering a production house, a singer is sworn to be loyal, even when the production house employs them like slaves. A memorable example was in 2009, when three members of a very famous boy band, Dong Bang Shin Ki, sued their production house, SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment employed them like slaves, they were also abused physically and mentally and they received very little payment from the income they produced for SM Entertainment. See? They are so loyal that they devote everything they have, but the production house seemed to not appreciate their loyalty, which was ironic. All this time, some singers keep their mouth shut because they cherish the promise they once made. Ironically, they get very little salaries for their loyalty. Sadly, SM Entertainment keeps receiving a fantastic amount of money. In the first six years of 2010, they made $40 million, which was huge.

The next reason is because in order to be terrific singers, they have to sacrifice almost everything. When a singer decides to enter entertainment industry, there is one important thing he must be willing to leave behind, his family. K-pop singers live in dorms, not in their houses. They can't meet their family, so it is like abandoning your family for such a long time. They have no permission to visit their parents. If a singer is lucky enough, then in a year he or she is only allowed to come home twice. The second most important thing to sacrifice is education. Usually, after finishing high school, they are permitted to be a part-timer student in a university. This, is definitely different from being a full-time student. To put it short, career is number one while education is put aside.

To sum up, K-pop singers deserve to be paid highly considering the efforts and sacrifices they made, starting from working non-stop 24/7 like a machine, being loyal to the production house even they are often hurt and sacrificing their family and education to be outstanding yet remarkable entertainers. Production houses ought to pay them fantastically, recalling that the singers continually do a great job for them.

KARA

SNSD

Dong Bang Shin Ki