BTS’ Suga did not hesitate to criticize about the K-Pop industry. In an interview with Weverse Magazine, the BTS singer and music producer shared his thoughts on the treatment of agencies with their artists, seen most of the time just as “products”.
Suga has been in the industry for over 10 years, first working as a trainee at Big Hit Music and then with BTS as of 2013. In the meantime, music production has also gained ground — as has his solo career through the albums “Agust D” and “D-2“.
During the interview, Suga was asked “what steps he thinks are necessary for the artists to come after BTS”. That’s when he reflected on the weariness and lack of financial return even with the great demand for professional commitments.
“The way artists work seems so difficult.
These kinds of music programs exist for promotional purposes, so it’s not like artists can earn adequate income from them.
Also, despite all the promotion, there are no visible results, so they inevitably lose morale.”
“We need a lot of improvements in the industry and in its system” said Suga , also expressing his opinion on the issues of legal protection with the artists.
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“…And since our work doesn’t fit the common conception of work, there are ambiguous boundaries when it comes to issues of legal protection.”
Afterwards, the member of BTS celebrated being part of an agency that responds to requests and listens to its artists. “Both we and the label know to some degree what types of activities would be better, commercially speaking” But he did not fail to emphasize that everything involves a lot of physical and mental effort.
“The question is whether the body can handle it or not. If the fatigue builds as you continually do these promotional activities, it’s hard to do them the way you did when you debuted. In that case, I think the agency should actively accommodate the artists’ opinions about what they can and can’t do”
