overall, “a lot of people are under the impression that sm just “pockets” the money. no. they spend the money so that they can continue to offer top stars” was pretty vague. NOONE knows where the money goes coz they never even tell their artists how much they’ve gained, let alone the informations ’bout these so-called reroutes. all i know is, despite the financial problem, SM can still expand their enterprises = restaurants, noraebangs, and i remember they were planning to build an amusement park O_O

i don’t know if you know this but one of the Suju’s member even revealed that until recently, the artists were paying for the stylists. i think from this you can assume that SM’s indeed “pockets” the money =(

hm anyways

sm’s top artists never leave the company at their peak, they leave just after it, meaning, on their glorious way down.

everyone forgets, the korean music scene was not a very legit place until sm brought everyone up to their level. rather than arguing about how much sm gave to their artists, i think the question everyone should be asking is, how much exactly do the artists have (and at that point i think many will agree that they aren’t poverty-stricken)? think about it this way, despite their success, sm as a company struggles with their finances — this being DESPITE their unfair contracts and the like. training and other costs put a huge burden on the company up to the point where operations are unsustainable without revenue coming out of somewhere.

sm is a prominent entertainment company but its no Coca-Cola. basically, if money sm is currently taking gets rerouted to dbsk members, that directly takes funds from sm’s other operations (training pre-debutees, etc) because there is no fund-raising arm for the extensive investment side of the company.

a lot of people are under the impression that sm just “pockets” the money. no. they spend the money so that they can continue to offer top stars. there’s a lot of “boo sm” which i don’t mind, because i don’t even have to listen to that track to know what kind of embarrassment awaits the ears. however, there’s a reason the contracts are unfair..what other way is there in a country that is 80%+ saturated with broadband connectivity and also within a regional industry that loses millions due to piracy enabled by that high connectivity.