"How do I get a record contract?"
That's something that I used to google all the time when I was a kid. I had a dream of being an internationally recognised singer, something which many used to attribute to my vanity and love for fame (but that's a whole other story about the entertainment industry). Since then, I had become obsessed with music and have been training as a singer since elementary school. I also spent three years studying music and the entertainment industry once I finished high school, and went through the processes of recording a song, filming a music video and gigging with my band. Although things were short lived, I got an insight to the industry through both my education and friends that are now professional musicians.
Since then, a lot of people have asked me about the music industry but most of the questions I get are in regards to the Kpop industry. There are a lot of false stories and rumours out there, mostly due to the fact that the entertainment companies are very meticulous with their marketing and are very good at manipulating the psychologically relationships between the consumer and their artists. It also doesn't help that a lot of people who are interested in this field are both young and inexperienced. For this reason, I decided to write a post about the industry (both in Australia and Korea) as I know it. I specific Australia because I'm unsure about the practices in other western countries but can only assume that they are similar.
The Australian perspective is written through my first and second hand experience, while the Korean perspective is written through my research using news reports, interviews, fan/trainee accounts (which will be indicated as I must emphasise that many many fan accounts are untrue or biased) and personal observations.
And with that, we will begin!
How do you get 'discovered'?
The discovery process is a little different in Australia and Korea.
In Australia, most people wanting to be singers would have gone through some training and partaken in local talent quests and competitions, as well as putting up YouTube videos. Getting discovered in a difficult task and most people will spend years trying to get an opportunity. Aside from luck, it is also very dependent on your own skills and self marketing.
In the past, people would send their demo tapes to record companies in an attempt to be discovered. Let me tell you now that this is useless and the chance of them actually listening to your track is very slim. The only direct way to get the attention of important people is to go and get the attention of everyone else - be YouTube famous, be popular on every possible social networking platform and then perform... a lot. You need to create an identity for yourself and market yourself online as a package, not as raw talent. Aside from that, there is a way to be a professional singer without starving for a chance that may not come.
Performers, be they singers, actors or dancers, will often audition and get signed with talent agencies. As I have once been signed to an agency, I can specify that they will either hold open auditions, ask you to come into the head office or will prefer to do their own scouting. What happens in auditions vary depending on your field. These agencies will sign you on contract by the year and, then, will be your legal representative in Australia. Their job is to find you auditions and, in return, will take a percentage of your earnings (Approximately 10% although I could be wrong about that as it's been three years).
Whether you go to these auditions is up to you, but the truth is that you will get many jobs that you aren't sure about. You won't be auditioning for record companies, but rather jobs as entertainers at restaurants, cruise ships, television shows, shopping malls and etc. For a lot of people, their aim is that elusive record contract but, since getting discovered online is difficult unless you're very popular, this is the only choice to make it as a professional singer.
In Korea, however, a lot of their talent is discovered via open auditions. The entertainment companies hold official events to seek people with potential. From what I can see, they are not looking for polished talent. They are looking for young, raw, passionate people with adequate training. Aside from this, they do very little online scouting (via Youtube and other platforms) but do street scouting instead.
For street scouting, they are looking for people with strong charisma and good looks - that's just being honest. Many have been told about former ulzzangs becoming idols. It isn't just because they are somewhat famous, but because they already have the foundations of a marketable idol - attractiveness.
There isn't much to say about the scouting process in Kpop because it's mostly just open auditions or being (luckily) scouted. The reason for this is that, once a singer is discovered in Korea, they are not necessarily on their way to stardom - instead, they become trainees.
What is a trainee?
There is, essentially, no equivalent to a trainee in Australia. This is because the record company will only sign people who are already trained and prepared for a professional musical career.
In Korea, there is a process called training in the entertainment companies. Here, the auditionees that have been chosen to proceed to be given lessons in different fields (singing, acting, dancing, languages, speaking and, I think, image making, where they are taught what they can or can't say in public). The training is not glamorous at all. Even in WIN, they tried to make the process look shiny with stages and cameras, but the fact is that the hard work is real. I simply cannot stress this enough.
Please note that the following information is drawn from some of the more reliable trainee fan accounts. Although it is not completely objective, please also note that a lot of these conclusions are quite logical.
While the idea of working so hard for your dreams that you don't sleep is somewhat romantic, the truth is that your body will shut down from exhaustion. People do get sick and, in many cases, being so far away from family and their own support system will tear them down. You will not being 'best friends' with attractive soon-to-be idols, but actually compete against each other. It is brutal and not pretty at all.
Trainees are not paid much for their time, but rather given a small allowance. I'm sure that there is a residence where international trainees can stay but most will live with their parents (some who will actually move in to Seoul to support their kids) and attend school regularly, but go for training afterwards.
All in all, training is difficult and you can be 'kicked out' if they don't see that you are improving that you should. Many will also drop out because of the difficulty. Companies do not debut all of their trainees and many who are very talented will stay in their program just because the company has no plans or budget to debut a new group. A lot of people decide that their time is better spent towards a more realistic job as the odds are always against you.
There will always be someone prettier, stronger, more talented and smarter than you. However, the truth is that it is the same for every occupation if you want to get to the top - the only difference is that there are fewer people fighting for the other opportunities. Those who succeed are not necessarily the most talents or handsome, but rather just lucky.
So that's about all I can type about the scouting and trainee process so far. There's actually a lot to every step in this, but the big defining difference is in contracts and how an artist is marketed. I will be talking more about contracts, debut and marketing in the second part of this series. Until then, feel free to leave me any questions in the comments section and I'll be answering them to the best of my ability.
nice post!
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