G.O, who is a former MBLAQ member and current streamer on AfreecaTV, recently talked about how entertainment companies in Korea will scam their idol groups.

“The rookies get scammed more because they don’t know how things work yet, so they’re easy targets. The older, more popular idols know better, so they don’t get tricked as much.”

“Say the agency sends a group for $10,000 for a performance. The agency will tell the idols they are going for $5,000. The agency keeps whatever it doesn’t pay off to the idols.”

“Let’s say an agency receives a request for its well-known idol to appear for $30,000. The agency will turn down that request and instead, suggest to send a rookie instead for half the price.”

“Once the rookie group performs, the agency will go as far to tell the idols that they didn’t receive any money for the performance because they were sent to promote themselves, not to make money. So it’s a loss for the rookie idol that works hard but doesn’t get paid and a loss for the more popular idol that can no longer book performances and doesn’t get paid. It’s only good for the agency who eats all the money.”

Definitely explains the situations where idols basically just seek financial clarity from their companies.