topic: Not So "Whimsical".

Let me be the serious May for a moment.

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The DBSK income divisions. It's unbelievable. absolutely unbelievable.

I'm sure that all of you have heard of JaeChunSu (Jaejoong+Yoochun+Junsu) going to court to determine the validity of their contracts with SM. Well, the court has recently released some information on DBSK's income. ):

1. “DBSK has received $0 for their album sales prior to July 2008, and only a negligible amount after that date.”

Because before late 2008, their contract stated that they would only recieve 5% of the income from albums that had to sell +500,000 copies. The bestselling album of 2009 (so far) has only sold around 200,000, so even though DBSK was really successful in their previous albums, only Mirotic gave them some moolah. This was modified in late '08 to say that DBSK would recieve %1 profit from every album that sold +200,000. But, SM didn't follow that rule, so they got 0%.

2. “DBSK has received $0 for the sales of concert DVDs and albums featuring recordings from such concerts.”

They work their (hot) asses off in their performances. Backstage, they have to force themselves to practice because they're so tired, and they sometimes can't sleep for consecutive days (example, Yunho had to go through 3 days without sleep when he was filming Heading To the Ground, then had a photoshoot and an interview).
I think that their Tokyo Dome performance DVD topped the Oricon charts? And they still didn't get anything from it. None. Nothing. Zero. Cassiopeia's support was basically for SM, I guess.

3. “DBSK has received $0 for their appearances on TV programs.”

I always thought that they'd at least get something for being so entertaining on TV. I love watching them, and now, it amazes me that they found the strength to force out smiles, laughter, and jokes.

4. “For all other possible sources of revenue, SM subtracts from the total revenue all expenses, including salaries of other staff, stage preparation expenses, rent, travel expenses, food expenses, and the like, then gives TVXQ only a fraction of the remaining amount.”

SM decides how much to subtract, by the way.
I thought that DBSK shouldn't have to pay for some of this. Why? Because this part covers a lot of things. I'll make a list, this post is really long, anyways.

-Performance stages. (Tokyo Dome comes to mind...)

-Food (But then again, SM forces them on diets. Poor Changminnie who loves food.)

-Travel expenses (Plane tickets, hotels, etc...Technically, SM doesn't 'ship them off' to Japan, they have to ship themselves off, y/y?)

-Housing (electricity/water bills, rent, furniture, etc.)

Usually, these are paid by the manager. Yet, SM really just to has to suck as much out of their employees (I'm not going to call them Idols at the moment) as possible. What is left, I wonder.

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back to informal writing may.

i'm kinda...stunned. you know what i mean?
they'v worked so hard...and so, the moment that i heard of this, my head just kept going 'dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit...'
i'm not even as angry as i am sad.
i told my best friend (who does not like kpop much) about this issue, and even she was infuriated. why, because this, imo, goes against basic human rights. in middle school we learn about the unalienable natural rights of all humans gifted upon us by a higher being, and yet, the information about DBSK's payments and such violates those rights. i was so upset, even remi gaillard couldn't cheer me up.

more long long posts coming up soon (to make up for my 1-month semi-hiatus).
many, many thanks to allkpop and seoulbeats for informing me of this unjustness.
):

Labels: dbsk, sm ent