Damn Idol Chapter 155
Producer Kang Seokwoo’s explanation was simple.
The variety program would be aired in two seasons: Season 1 would be the domestic edition, and Season 2 would be the overseas edition.
What the production team wanted to show in Season 1 was Sedalbaegil’s character and music.
“Compared to your fame and achievements, far too little is known about Sedalbaegil. Especially things like how you work on music, how you practice, and so on.”
We had revealed some of it through our self-produced content, but expecting the entire nation to watch that was absurd.
And on Coming Up Next, we had to avoid looking too overwhelmingly better than Take Scene, so there had been restraint in terms of screen time.
That was when Lee Ion raised his hand and asked a question.
People call me Confucian Boy, but I’m an American macho, and the real Confucian Boy is Lee Ion.
He even raised his hand to ask a question.
“Would people be interested in our music production process?”
“Usually, no. For most singers, their music production gets shown as about thirty seconds of reference footage.”
But now, there was interest.
Sedalbaegil had created issues with great masters of the previous generation and achieved feats like appearing on Color Show and entering the Billboard charts.
“We’ll be able to talk about music in far more detail than an ordinary variety program. If you’re preparing a single or mini album, you’ll be able to promote that as well.”
But if it was only about music, there wouldn’t be enough of a hook, so they had given us the goal of earning money.
“How long is the period?”
“We’re thinking three months for filming the domestic edition, though there’s room to adjust by a few weeks depending on the situation.”
“What exactly do you mean by hiding our identities?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
If we wanted to earn money through public-facing activities, we would have to conceal our faces with special makeup, and even when working online, we couldn’t use the name Sedalbaegil.
“That money will become Sedalbaegil’s travel funds. Excluding transportation and lodging expenses.”
After that, Producer Kang Seokwoo added that it wasn’t as though we would actually be filming with the money we earned.
The broadcasting station would allocate production costs equal to the amount Sedalbaegil earned.
He also advised that it would look good if the money Sedalbaegil earned were donated.
“All right, that’s the production team’s position up to this point. What do the cast members think?”
“If we earn revenue through music, doesn’t settlement not happen immediately? If we spend all three months making music, but the release gets delayed, the settlement could happen three months later.”
“We’ll consult experts. For a track of this level of popularity, how much would be settled over three months? We’ll calculate an estimate for you.”
“If we appear at regional festivals and such, how will filming work? It’d be strange if we’re hiding our faces and cameras are following us around.”
“We’ll disguise it as filming a documentary about an unknown indie singer.”
After that, the Sedalbaegil members and Producer Kang Seokwoo continued exchanging questions and answers.
In my opinion, this didn’t seem like a very good format for a variety show.
It isn’t easy for an unknown singer to earn money through music.
I don’t know how much someone would earn busking all day in Korea, but wouldn’t it be hard to exceed 100,000 won?
And if you subtract transportation and meal costs from that, there would hardly be anything left.
Of course, if I seriously used my composition abilities, I could sell songs to entertainment companies, but…
That would make it less entertaining as a variety show.
But at my words, Producer Kang Seokwoo shook his head.
“We want it to be as real as possible.”
“Real?”
“Yes. This isn’t a project we planned without knowing anything. Leave the variety entertainment to us, and Sedalbaegil should just try earning money through music.”
According to Director Seo Seunghyeon, Sedalbaegil’s appearance had brought about a major change in the music industry.
Trainees were frequently running away, and the indie scene was becoming more active.
There had also been an enormous increase in demand for composition skills.
Because the belief had spread that if you were good at composing, whether as a solo singer or an idol, you could succeed without an agency.
Producer Kang Seokwoo, who added something similar to what Team Leader Seo Seunghyeon had said, said that what Sedalbaegil showed could be the despair edition of independents or the hope edition.
As long as it was real.
Really?
In that case…
“Producer Kang Seokwoo.”
“Yes?”
“What happens if we earn an enormous amount of money in three months?”
“That would be good, wouldn’t it? Is there a problem?”
“You said the broadcasting station would allocate a budget equal to the amount we earned.”
“Yes.”
“Then what happens if we earn about ten billion won?”
“Ten billion?”
When Kang Seokwoo’s eyes went round, the writers around us, who had been diligently taking notes on our conversation, snickered.
They thought I was saying something ridiculous.
Of course, ten billion was ridiculous.
If we were unknown singers, we wouldn’t have performance fees.
But I had deliberately named a large amount.
To draw out what he would say next.
“No matter how much it is, it doesn’t matter. The broadcasting station will allocate that much for you.”
It seemed the nature of the program had been decided.
The hope edition for independent singers, and the despair edition for the broadcasting station.
“Ah, we’re discussing a few options for the program title, but it will probably be Self Made.”
In the style of putting our name into Self Made.
Something like Se(dal)lf Made.
And with that, the variety show meeting came to an end.
* * *
We returned to the dorm that now felt like home and held a meeting with the members.
“We’re having a meeting about the variety program? Filming hasn’t even started yet.”
At On Saemiro’s words, I shook my head.
What we would talk about today wasn’t variety, but money.
Conveniently, money had also become the theme of the variety show.
“It’s about settlement.”
“Settlement? Aren’t we nowhere near getting settled yet?”
We performed at eight university festivals in September, and in October, there were far more events than that.
Especially the events we were booked for after our album began selling like hotcakes—the appearance fees were quite high.
October would probably be the month when we began earning money in earnest.
However…
“Our investment costs were pretty high.”
With the money we earned this year, it would be impossible to pass the break-even point.
Especially if we thought about the employees’ salaries and even incentives.
I felt a sense of responsibility about that.
Our album was on pace to definitely surpass one million copies, and if we considered that it would continue selling steadily, we could aim for 1.5 million copies as well.
Our first full-length album would probably become the best-selling album of 2017.
But we hadn’t really made much money from the album.
This was because of the limited edition. Because of the CD player, the profit margin was almost nonexistent.
At first, my plan had been to provide the CD players with my own money.
It was clearly merchandise that had my selfish desire mixed into it, after all.
But because the members had opposed it fiercely, it had been categorized as an upfront investment, and thanks to that, the album’s profitability had fallen drastically.
It wasn’t as though we were selling it at a loss, but should I say that we hardly made money from the album?
You could think of it as only music streaming revenue being deposited into our account.
It wasn’t only the album that worsened our profitability; the music video was included as well.
It was good that the music video came out well.
But an enormous amount of money went into producing it—more than the public guessed—and that, too, had been set as an upfront investment.
This was also why we had not produced the next music video.
I wasn’t constrained by money, but the members were.
Even if they didn’t say it out loud, the members were worried that the upfront investments were only continuing to pile up.
But all of this was ultimately because of me, who had to sell 200 million copies.
If Sedalbaegil had been a normal group, after the success of the album, we would have gone around doing events and variety shows and earned money through concerts.
That was why I wanted to talk about this frankly.
Especially when considering On Saemiro’s wallet situation, settlements needed to happen quickly.
Eating and sleeping were covered by the corporate card, but wouldn’t he want to have personal assets?
“To start with, my thought is that we receive half the profit as settlement, and use the other half to pay down the upfront investment.”
“Then won’t it take too long to pay back the upfront investment?”
At Ion hyung’s question, I thought for a moment.
I had agonized a lot over what to say while bringing up money to the members.
In fact, I had still been agonizing over it right up until I opened my mouth.
Whether to guide their behavior with plausible sweet talk, or to be honest with them.
If it were the usual me, I would have chosen sweet talk, but this life was a little different.
Since I had decided to see it through to the end, I decided to be honest.
“If we set our minds to it, we can earn far more money.”
When a singer succeeds, the agency makes an enormous amount of money.
But we didn’t have an agency, and excluding activity expenses, everything could be ours.
“What would happen if, when we release our second album, we raise the album price and include random photocards? And if our merchandise also pursued maximum profit?”
We would get criticized a bit.
People would say we’d changed after succeeding.
It would also be true.
When we released our first album, there were many factors pressuring us, so we had to do “good-natured marketing.”
Because we had to make public perception and the fandom’s hearts our allies.
But starting with our second album, now that we had established a foundation, we could pursue maximum profit.
Then an amount of money would be deposited into our account that would make us think, So what if we get criticized a little?
And that wasn’t all.
We could also release only singles and mini albums from time to time while repeatedly doing events and concerts.
And release full-length albums only once every two or three years.
“That’s what ordinary singers do.”
This was absolutely not a bad thing.
Singers would want to make money, and they would want to have rest periods.
But I hated that.
Even if we sold ten million copies every year, we would have to keep selling for twenty years to reach 200 million copies.
I wanted to release an album every year.
And while doing that, I also wanted to release my own single albums and produce albums too.
So…
“I hope the upfront investment never gets paid off.”
I hoped the members could live luxuriously off half the settlement money, but I hoped the company would remain buried in debt forever.
And even so, I hoped we wouldn’t go around doing variety shows or events to pay it off.
I hoped that Sedalbaegil’s main thing would be music, and that money would be secondary.
I knew it was a selfish thought.
I also knew it was a thought solely for my own goal.
But I wanted to tell the members honestly.
When I finished speaking, the members only blinked for a while before opening their mouths.
“So… you just expressed the romantic idea of us working together until we die in terms of money, right?”
“…?”
At Lee Ion’s words, this time I blinked.
What was he talking about?
This time, On Saemiro cut in.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something, but I think things are plenty luxurious even now.”
“Now?”
“We sleep in beds, we only have to sing, and we eat what we want.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“If we get settled for even half on top of that, doesn’t that make us rich?”
Choi Jaeseong also joined in.
“I don’t really care about money. I just want to become popular.”
“Me too. The mushroom farm is doing well.”
Negative emotions as a regressor began to creep up inside me.
They were saying this now, but anyway, after three or four years passed, they would become no different from the people I had met until now.
They would get angry, saying this much success was enough, so why did we have to grit our teeth and keep going?
But…
I had watched the members.
How they had given up everything for a week to follow my directing when recording.
How they had been overjoyed as if they were flying after receiving a score sheet that said 70 points.
So I wouldn’t hastily judge them either.
Until they disappointed me, I wouldn’t be disappointed in advance.
“Good. Then let’s do that. But once you receive your settlements, make sure you save a lot of it.”
“Why?”
Why else?
To buy Bitcoin.
Not now, but about a year from now.
And with that, we decided on our stance.