60 replies to this topic

[Kuraudo17]

1% for the entire group? Imagine what AKB feels. LOL.

Does anyone know if UFA is actually making money from the movies its idols star in? Because frankly, they're mostly b-movies I wouldn't watch if my favorite idol wasn't in it. I guess they do make *some* profit because of the low budget nature of those movies... heck, they even used the H!P office as a set in Gomennasai.

[Kuraudo17]

I remember an interview from 2008 ish where maimi said her parents give her allowance? I'm prepared to bet a lot of the underage idols dont see a lot of their money until they're of age (: when their parents cant hold it from them anymore.

That;s right. From what i've read and heard they can do business for themselves when they are 18 so before that their money is put into an account that is managed by somebody else i assume in most cases it's the parents though we saw with Aibon's parents how this can cause problems since they have free access to that account and often they use it to help support their family so they allow them to use that money too. Though in most cases one can assume it works just fine and they only use money they need instead of wildly spending their Daughters earnings. I believe the agency talks to the parents about how much money they will need to use and agree an allowance.

It's all pretty sensible can you imagine 12 year olds like Tsuji and Kago back in the day let loose with all the money they were earning?

After they turn 18 it seems they manage their own finances and talk contracts themselves.

McDonald's will be making more business from Airi very soon then!

[Moondoggie]

^^
Of course they make money from it or they would not make them. UFA is involved in many of them or makes them themselves. The people buying these movies are not buying them because they want to watch the movie they buy them to watch their favorite idols in various situations. Horror movies seem a popular theme i imagine because the idols run around scared and the Wota feel like they want to protect them.

[Dran]

^Also because horror movies are often cheap to make, and a good one can also make a fair bit of profit.

[PCC]

if the labour laws in japan are are clean cut as they say they are, even the least popular non-H!P idol should be earning at least minimal wage. and for the kind of hours they work, that could add up to a lot.

however some interviews with u-15 "models" say they earn as little as 30 000 yen a month.sure it's mostly a part-time job for those models , but 30K yen in tokyo still sounds obscenely low. wonder if their labour laws somehow don't cover minors.

[PCC]

About UFA financial status:

Upfront's Financial statement balance sheet for 2011

http://cute-strategy.../blog-post.html

Main points of the blog entry (please note that I am not a financial/business expert, all of the analyses are the original author's, and I'm just translating as best I can):

Up Front publishes only a balance sheet because it is not listed on the stock exchange, but based on this single balance sheet:
1.  The company reduced its capital stock by 16 million yen. This is usually done to cancel loss/deficit, but this can't be Up Front's reason because its current assets are close to 9 billion yen. The author thinks that the company brought its capital stock down to below 100 million yen to reduce taxes, especially corporate tax.

2.  Net profit is 510 million yen, probably from real estate investment profits, subcontracting, consulting, etc.

3.  The company has a sound financial structure with extremely low debt.  Its debt is 900 million yen, but assets are close to 30 billion yen.  So, unless it has subsidiary companies upon which it pushed debt so it looks good, or has subsidiary companies that are in deficit because of business failures, for the time being, Up Front  is unlikely to go bankrupt.  Also, its earned surplus is close to 28 billion yen, so it seems to have plenty of money reserved.

4.  So, to what use did it put this 28 billion yen surplus? Answer: fixed assets.  Their assets are divided into 1 part current assets (cash) and 2 parts fixed assets (real estate).  By itself, this looks healthy.

Basically, UFG seems to be in good shape.

nice to know, but it sure shows like they spend more money investing i property than idoling . heh

[Moondoggie]

if the labour laws in japan are are clean cut as they say they are, even the least popular non-H!P idol should be earning at least minimal wage. and for the kind of hours they work, that could add up to a lot.

however some interviews with u-15 "models" say they earn as little as 30 000 yen a month.sure it's mostly a part-time job for those models , but 30K yen in tokyo still sounds obscenely low. wonder if their labour laws somehow don't cover minors.

I doubt idols are paid per hour. They work almost constantly with very few days off and several hours a day so the costs of salaries would be crippling if it was based on hours lol

Their contract will have a set monthly wage which goes up for how long they have been with the agency and with added bonuses based on goods sales and commercial endorsements.

[anhh]

Alice Project (an indie idol project) recently shared how much some of their members earn in one month:

http://rocketnews24....2/03/02/188593/

[Rice-chan]

^
are you serious? If I saw it right that's about 50 euros??? o_O

[anhh]

More about 300 €. 50 is the cash they had between them when they were interviewed.

[Dran]

if the labour laws in japan are are clean cut as they say they are, even the least popular non-H!P idol should be earning at least minimal wage. and for the kind of hours they work, that could add up to a lot.

however some interviews with u-15 "models" say they earn as little as 30 000 yen a month.sure it's mostly a part-time job for those models , but 30K yen in tokyo still sounds obscenely low. wonder if their labour laws somehow don't cover minors.

Keep in mind that those very same labour laws restrict the amount of work (and, indeed, the number of hours) that those minors are allowed to do.

But yeah, like MrMoondoggie said, it's also unlikely that they get paid an hourly wage. The thing with being an entertainer is that, while there is potential for a lot of money, there's also very little job security.
If you're not getting gigs, you're not getting paid for them.

[kantutanTayo14]

Maybe management agencies get around lower pays by being more generous with benefits & claims instead?

And you can't compare indie idol projects & u-15s with, say, Sayu. Sayu's work schedule's like she's never taken even half a day's leave since her MM debut.

[Kuraudo17]

Maybe management agencies get around lower pays by being more generous with benefits & claims instead?

And you can't compare indie idol projects & u-15s with, say, Sayu. Sayu's work schedule's like she's never taken even half a day's leave since her MM debut.

I don't follow Sayu much but Airi gets like two days off every month, and she's still underage.

[ninety9nights]

Don't forget that UFA is known to be generous in giving salaries to their idols (compared to the other agencies).

I think it's said on a TV show once.

[NightOfFire’21]

The ones that earn the least are of course the new members, they surely have an "introductory" salary, but in H!P's case can't be low I believe:

Many girls have to LEAVE their hometown, and they can't go alone, has to be with one of her parents and maybe a sibling or two. UFA probably pays for all their accommodation, food and bills. If not, the salary has to be high enough to support this small family.

I don't think a girl would come from afar and leave everything behind (and her guardian has to do the same) for a small pay, so their parents wouldn't allow them to endeavor into something like this if it were too risky or had bad pay/benefits.

Also, new members (MM 9th, 10th gen and S/mileage 2nd) are very young girls (except for Haruna, who is from Tokyo), they have their full lives ahead of them (they were probably expected to study and stuff), so if this wasn't a big opportunity, such sacrifices wouldn't be made.

[Moondoggie]

Oh even with a middle ground agency like UFA they make a great deal of money so can afford attractive salaries for young girls it's more than enough even when they are starting out. Most of it when they are young goes to supporting family and their rent etc if they needed to move to Tokyo i imagine so that is why they live on an allowance but still their spending money seems to be enough to live well. You get girls talking about going out for meals and stuff often and that's not exactly cheap in Tokyo.

But there are idols who are much lower down on the chain who struggle to make any real money and many idols chasing the dream drop out alltogether before they even got anywhere so it's not always guarenteed to make you a good living.

[I ♥ Miyoshi Ayaka]

ORI Hime are a non-profit community service volunteer idol group. http://orihimetai.com/about/index.html
I don't think these girls are in the business to make money for themselves. They donate everything from the sales of their merchandise to help earthquake victims and to rebuild their city (Sendai). Unless I'm reading something wrong with Google Translate. Kind of puts other idols to shame since ORI Hime want to help others through selfless deeds.

[°Cal.Mer.Sac]

any idea about how much money maimi makes?

[ItsudemoAibon]

NightOfFire: Interesting points about what idols face when they join and move to Tokyo. Recounting the early days, three of the original five came from Hokkaido and I hear that Nacchi and Kaorin were very homesick at first. Ayappe and Yuko were pretty much grown women so I imagine they transitioned pretty easily. Asuka was actually from Tokyo so no major change for her.

The second and third gens. were from the Kantou as well as the fourth except for Aibon, so these girls continued to live at home and commute. But at that time, Momusu/H!P/UFA probably didn't have the reputation that would make someone not think twice about jumping in feet first............I think this is why Aibon's move to Tokyo from Nara was considered a big deal.............what a brave move for a 12-year old!

All of the H!P Kids also come from the Kantou area, I think they all still live at home, I've never heard of any of them living in their own apartments................

But now, H!P is one of Japan's elite agencies and girls are dying to get into it and moving from an outlying prefecture is no big deal anymore........

MrMoondoggie: And being one of Japan's elite agencies, I think they can afford to pay as well or better than anyone else. If that profit sheet is any indication, it would seem unfair for the company to be rolling in dough and the girls who are making them all that money not get much of it. As a matter of fact, I don't see how the girls could be idols without making good money, the more money they make, the easier it is to project being an idol is my thought.

One thing to consider is that anything these girls want, like Sayu's need to have all of the latest electronic gadjets, they seem to go and get. iPhones? Laptops? Music devices? They have them all!

I ♥ Miyoshi Ayaka: That's a great sentiment but how much money can these girls raise? Would it be more than what UFA did with their "Ai wa Katsu" release? A big agency like UFA can easily do more financially during any time of need than an independent idol group could...........but I like their outlook anyway!

[kantutanTayo14]

One thing to consider is that anything these girls want, like Sayu's need to have all of the latest electronic gadjets, they seem to go and get. iPhones? Laptops? Music devices? They have them all!

I wanna see if Aichan has a cellar of Dom Perignons, or Risa has Italian/Scandinavian male boxers models flown into Tokyo just to give her backrubs