The K-pop idol payment structure leaves most artists far poorer than their designer wardrobes suggest, Hyebin, leader of girl group Momoland, explained in a video published on 6 July to her personal YouTube channel, according to Koreaboo.
‘It has already been more than 10 years since I became an idol,’ she said. ‘Many people probably wonder how much money idols actually make. It may seem like they earn a crazy amount of money, but they don’t.’
How the costs stack up before a single won is earned
Hyebin explained that many idols, particularly those signed to midsize or smaller agencies, begin their careers already in debt. Training costs during the pre-debut period (lessons, food, housing, and practice room rentals) are, as she put it, ‘billed straight to you after debut’ like a ‘post-paid system.’
Once an idol is active, the expenses keep coming. Recording requires buying a track from a composer. Music videos must be funded, and the artist shoulders part of that cost directly. ‘Every time we shoot a music video, tens of thousands of my own money vanishes,’ she said.
Event appearances, which might look like a reliable income source, offer little relief. The Maeil Business Newspaper reports that Hyebin used a specific event booking fee of 50 million Korean won as her example. The agency takes a 50% cut immediately. What remains must then cover manager salaries, fuel, and a share of event preparation costs such as hair and makeup. In a multi-member group, the residual is split further among all artists. Momoland had nine members at one point; some groups, such as Seventeen, have 13.
After all of that, Hyebin said she walks away from a single event with around 2 million Korean won, roughly $1,300. ‘The money you worked your butt off to make, it sits in a pile and then goes straight into investing in the next music video,’ she said. ‘Then, boom, you’re back in the negatives.’
K-pop idol payment structure: why top-chart success changes little
Reaching a high chart position does not necessarily break the cycle. Hyebin said that being part of a popular group could mean an idol is ‘still poor,’ because all expenses are split 50-50 with the agency regardless of commercial performance.
She acknowledged that some idols do accumulate real wealth, but the odds are extremely long. Only 1% of those who attempt to become K-pop idols reach debut at all, she said, and only the top 1% of those who debut make ‘any real money.’
Hyebin’s own group Momoland illustrates how quickly fortunes can shift. The group was among South Korea’s top girl acts in 2018. All six members’ contracts with their label, MLD Entertainment, were confirmed expired on 27 January, according to Soompi, with the members choosing not to renew. In 2025, the six reunited under a new label but retained the Momoland name.
The industry backdrop: enormous revenues, concentrated at the top
Hyebin’s account sits against an industry generating substantial aggregate revenue, most of which accrues to a small number of mega-labels and their highest-profile artists. Music Business Worldwide reported that HYBE, the label behind BTS and Seventeen, posted record first-quarter revenue of 698.3 billion Korean won for Q1 2026, a 39.5% year-on-year increase from 500.6 billion won in Q1 2025. The USD equivalent varies by exchange rate; Music Business Worldwide put the conversion at approximately $477 million, while the report reported around $473 million, with the won figure consistent across sources.
Much of that growth came from BTS’s return. Music-related sales, covering albums and digital tracks, surged 99% year-on-year to 271.5 billion won in Q1 2026, driven by the group’s fifth studio album ARIRANG, released 20 March, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for three consecutive weeks, making BTS the first K-pop act to achieve that, according to Music Business Worldwide. HYBE’s artist direct-involvement revenue, covering recorded music, concerts, and advertising, rose 25.2% year-on-year to 403.7 billion won and accounted for 58% of the company’s total Q1 2026 revenue.
Elsewhere in the HYBE roster, new boy group CORTIS broke the record for highest first-album sales by a K-pop group, selling over 2 million copies of their debut album COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES, according to The Chosun Ilbo.
Those figures describe an industry where scale compounds at the very top. For the vast majority operating below that tier, the K-pop idol payment structure Hyebin described, shared costs, fractional event proceeds, and perpetual reinvestment into the next release, remains the economic reality. Whether Momoland’s reunion changes that arithmetic for its six members is the question their next release will begin to answer.