K-pop Industry Facing Crisis: Decline in Aspiring Idols

A post titled “Decrease in Aspiring Idols? Concerning State of Talent Supply and Demand”was published on the Korean forum ‘theqoo’ on June 23. Within a few hours, it garnered over 44,000 views and 260 comments.

The article from media site YTN focuses on the concerning state of the K-pop industry.

The article reported that the Korea Creative Content Agency released data showing a decrease in the number of K-pop trainees belonging to entertainment agencies. The number dropped from 1,895 in 2020 to 1,170 by the end of 2022, representing a significant decline of 38.3% over the span of two years.

The number of individuals applying to become trainees has decreased, and there has also been an increase in the proportion of trainees affiliated with an agency who choose to give up. This is due to the decline in the percentage of trainees debuting as celebrities, which has dropped from approximately 80% in 2016 to around 65% in 2022, a decrease of about 20%.

Furthermore, as per the annual survey conducted by the Ministry of Education on the state of career education for elementary and middle school students, singer has shown a decline in popularity among the top 10 desired occupations for students. From 2009 to 2021, it dropped from 6th to 9th place for elementary school students and from 7th place to being excluded from the top 10 for middle school students.

Since 2009, no singers have been included in the top 10 rankings by high school students.

Despite the K-pop market experiencing an unprecedented boom in recent years, there will still be a shortage in trainees and K-pop idols due to the declining interest in the industry.

The following are comments from K-netizens about the current situation:

It’s not that the bubble is bursting, it’s just that there are no children. This happen to the sports and games industry as well
Hahaha, looking at the birth rate, this is a natural process.. Not only in the entertainment industry, but in all fields, there are no talented people since there are no children
Becoming an influencer is way less work and just as much money after all
It’s only natural since most idols, except for the big ones, don’t make money…
It’s really hard for small and medium-sized companies to survive in K-pop nowadays…
As long as they are handsome or pretty, people can become influencers, so there’s no longer any point to debut as an idol

The source of this information can be found on theqoo website at the following link: //theqoo.net/hot/3289902782?page=1