K-pop industry facing declining interest in idol trainee positions

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

The subject of discussion is an article from YTN, a media site that highlights the concerning state of the K-pop industry.

According to data released by the Korea Creative Content Agency, as reported in the article, the number of K-pop trainees belonging to entertainment agencies had reached 1,895 in 2020. However, by the end of 2022, the number had dropped significantly to 1,170, representing a 38.3% decrease over the span of two years.

Despite a decrease in the number of applicants vying for trainee positions, there has been a simultaneous increase in the proportion of trainees affiliated with agencies who are choosing to voluntarily give up. This can be attributed to a significant decline in the rate of trainees successfully debuting as celebrities, dropping from approximately 80% in 2016 to around 65% in 2022.

According to the annual survey conducted by the Ministry of Education on career education for elementary and middle school students, singer has experienced a decline in popularity among the top 10 desired occupations. In 2009, it held the 6th spot for elementary school students but has since dropped to 9th place for the years 2019-2021. For middle school students, it went from ranking 7th to not even making it into the top 10.

In 2009, singers have not been present in the top 10 rankings for high school students.

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

The following are comments made by K-netizens regarding 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.