Last year, JYP Entertainment spent 1.12 billion won (US$763,000) on developing new talent, according to its annual business report. The South Korean company operates a dedicated rookie development division that selects K-pop trainees through auditions and provides training in vocals, dance and foreign languages.
From an agency’s perspective, trainees are the engine that drives future growth, making early investment essential. JYP’s spending on trainee development increased by about 30 per cent from 850 million won in 2023.
Officials from two major agencies say most companies maintain around 20 trainees. If JYP had around 30, this would mean the company spent roughly 3.12 million won per trainee each month on lessons and other costs – a significant investment.
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K-pop agencies have sharply increased their investment in trainees, yet the number of trainees in the industry is rapidly shrinking.
This comes as K-pop’s once-prominent “rags-to-riches” narrative fades amid a growing class divide, with trainees increasingly hailing from wealthy backgrounds and parents sending their children to trainee preparation classes even before they join an agency.
According to the Korea Creative Content Agency’s most recent survey on the pop culture and arts industry, the number of K-pop trainees at agencies fell to 1,170 in 2022, down 725 from 1,895 in 2020. That is a steep decrease of 38.3 per cent in just two years.