I think the trainee system is what makes K pop more exploitive than the American system.
As far as I know, aspiring pop stars in America don’t have to sign 12 year deals with a company when they’re teenagers and move away from their parents to train and do school all the time with 1 day off every 2 weeks and no contact with their family.
They’re also competing with everyone else and getting ranked all the time, forced into starvation diets, training for like 10 hours a day. If they can’t handle the lifestyle and want to quit they have to pay back to company for their training and housing. They also are frequently groomed and encouraged to be escorts to wealthy creeps.
Most don’t ever debut and even the ones that do still don’t make any money until they pay back the company for their training.
There are a few aspects here that I think do happen in the American music industry, like unfair contracts, artists not getting paid, grooming/exploitation, being overworked and underfed, but I think it’s worse how it’s an official component baked into the industry in K-pop.
I think the trainee system is what makes K pop more exploitive than the American system.
As far as I know, aspiring pop stars in America don’t have to sign 12 year deals with a company when they’re teenagers and move away from their parents to train and do school all the time with 1 day off every 2 weeks and no contact with their family.
They’re also competing with everyone else and getting ranked all the time, forced into starvation diets, training for like 10 hours a day. If they can’t handle the lifestyle and want to quit they have to pay back to company for their training and housing. They also are frequently groomed and encouraged to be escorts to wealthy creeps.
Most don’t ever debut and even the ones that do still don’t make any money until they pay back the company for their training.
There are a few aspects here that I think do happen in the American music industry, like unfair contracts, artists not getting paid, grooming/exploitation, being overworked and underfed, but I think it’s worse how it’s an official component baked into the industry in K-pop.