Before you start reading, please be notified that this piece does not intend to start any wars between fandoms under YGE.

I came across a post shared by a Taiwanese BIGBANG fanpage on Facebook, which was originally posted on NAVER, which some helpful V.I.Ps have translated into Chinese, and now this article has been much discussed and it appears that there is a consensus that all agree with the author of the article.

Link to the translated article: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/BIGBANG/M.1462639458.A.1E5.html

For those who cannot read Chinese, I will translate it into English as I go along below. The article’s subject is how YG Entertainment exploits G-Dragon as a rescue soldier when it’s facing failures, most especially the drop in YGE’s stock value, and it is divided into three parts; Part 1 – How much longer does G-Dragon need to act as YGE’s rescue soldier, Part 2 – When G-Dragon, someone with a lot more potential, was supposed to be allowed to aim higher and to achieve higher, he was being ‘consumed’, ‘expended’ as the master card used and exploited to save Moonshot from brink of failure, and Part 3 – What happens if G-Dragon goes into the army? How will YGE survive then?

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Part 1 – How much longer does G-Dragon need to act as YGE’s rescue soldier?

Regarding YG’s use of BIGBANG’s leader- G-Dragon has caused a lot of debates recently.

G-Dragon was recently chosen to be the endorser of YG’s own cosmetic brand- Moonshot, a lot of people felt that it was to save the brand which was in danger of failing, so YG invited him in to act as rescue soldier, and there have been more and more voices of concern that YG maybe pressuring G-Dragon more and more, and stressing him out in the process.

I don’t know if I can write like this.

The phrase, “YG Entertainment’s Usage/Exploitation of G-Dragon” has been criticized by some, because according to the V.I.Ps, YG’s ‘usage’ or ‘exploitation’ has long already surpassed into ‘abuse’. To boost up YG stock values, to save the company, YG still uses the old method- using/exploiting G-Dragon.

Once upon a time, YG stock value was the envy of all the other entertainment labels CEOs, but recently, it has been very undesirable. On 17 February, at the stock market closing time, the YG stock value fell to its lowest at KRW 36,450.00. The industry believes, it’s because of depressing company profits performance of YG’s subsidiary company – YG plus, which has been in a standstill state. So, to revive YG plus, YG once again urgently played the G-Dragon card.

With this method of G-Dragon acting as “YG’s First Class Rescue Soldier” being in a “Hard Carry” state, the investment firms and the investors were extremely worried. They are worried that whether it would be a really bad move, which would cut down G-Dragon’s ‘life’ in the long term, while desperately chasing after for a boost in sales volume at present. At the same time, the investors are worried that there will be no one after G-Dragon, i.e. that there will not a second G-Dragon.

[N.B.: Hard-Carry – usually means that when during a competition or match, when it appears that a team is losing because of the other members’ insufficient power or strength, the team sends out the one very obvious and clear member who can bring home victory for the entire team.]

In August, last year, when G-Dragon led BIGBANG in a series of activities for their “MADE” series, YG’s stock value rose up to its highest record of KRW 61,900 thousands in 52 weeks’ time. However, afterwards, the stock value started to fall, and the sales figures were not optimistic either, and this trend continued onwards. Since last year, YG’s standard business profits dropped by 0.4% (KRW 21,811,700,000).

It is especially apparent from the performance of its subsidiary- YG plus, last year, it suffered an increased loss of 320.1%, i.e. KRW 6,991,860,000); this year, another increase of loss by 27.8%, i.e. KRW 4,422,890,000.

Especially, under YG plus, the department which produced the biggest financial deficits is the one responsible for the cosmetic brand- ‘Moonshot’ – CODESCOSME. CODESCOSME made a loss of KRW 2,700,000,000. At the same time, the subsidiary division responsible for cosmetics distribution – CODESCOME INTERNATIONAL made a loss of KRW 1,500,000,000. Therefore, even though the cosmetics sales reached KRW 1,480,000,000, the financial deficits for the financial year was still well over KRW 4,000,000,000.

To save YG plus, G-Dragon and Taeyang invested in 8,450,000,000 shares (KRW 2,300,000,000) in January last year. In addition, G-Dragon and Taeyang also invested in CODESCOSME INTERNATIONAL 200,000 shares (KRW 1,000,000,000) and 60,000 shares (KRW 300,000,000).

For further improvement, Moonshot even played G-Dragon card, and gave up on the original idea of not using celebrity endorsers, using G-Dragon and fellow YGE singer- Sandara’s fame to turn around the situation of failing sales- so henceforth, ‘Microfit Cushion(GD Cushion)’ and ‘Moonflash Cushion(Sandara Cushion)’.

Moonshot was very happy with the endorsement by G-Dragon and Sandara. In truth, the first batch of their cushions (about 30,000) was sold out within 3 days. Let’s say each cushion costs KRW 28,000, then the cushion sales should reach KRW 800,000,000. Last year, Moonshot’s total sales was KRW 1,500,000,000, it can be said to be a rather dramatic result. Insiders say, “Due to the cushions being a massive hit, even the malls have to restrict each person to buying 20 at most.”

Part 2 - When G-Dragon, someone with a lot more potential, was supposed to be allowed to aim higher and to achieve higher, he was being ‘consumed’, ‘expended’ as the master card used and exploited to save Moonshot from brink of failure

Right now in the commercial world, G-Dragon’s net worth is the highest.

Recently chosen as the endorser of the new Hyundai (China) Verna car, practically speaking, G-Dragon is the one who receives the best pay and treatment in the industry. Even though Hyundai (China) has not disclosed the exact amount of the endorsement fee, but even for other active Hallyu stars, their endorsement fees were close to KRW 2,000,000,000, so it is safe to bet that G-Dragon’s endorsement fee was at least that or higher.

So, concerning Moonshot’s ‘GD effect’, there are a few different lines of sight. An analyst report from KTB investment securities research institute pointed out, “Although it was considered the endorsement fees of G-Dragon and Sandara have been partially diluted by business transactions, there are still burdens remaining.”

[N.B.: It should be said here that GD invested in both Moonshot and CODESCOSME, so his endorsement fees for them should be more modest than his endorsement fees for other brands and products.]

“First, the cushion product itself is already a little too late. Where there are substitutes and alternatives everywhere, long-term maintenance may be a little difficult after G-Dragon’s ‘shiny’ publicity. In reality, on 29 April, after having enquired a Moonshot sales place in Seoul, it was a different story from what the company said about everyone being restricted to buying 20 cushions max. There is no limit on how much one can buy, when asked “Can I buy 50-80 cushions?”, the sales staff replied, “50 you can, but if you want 80, you will need to pre-order.”.”

While regarding how was the response overseas, the assessment by the industry experts are pretty calm, Moonshot entered Sephora (the biggest cosmetics chain store under LVMH), and proceeded to heavy public promotion, but it was only limited to Malaysia and Singapore. In comparison to its competitors- ‘Chosungah22’ and ‘Tony Moly’ which entered the Sephora stores in the US and Europe with much success, Moonshot is still very lacking.

At the same time, the industry also expressed regret with the Moonshot product originality, especially when the product packaging is very akin to that of Bobbi Brown, it caused public accusations and opinions of plagiarizing.

Industry insiders pointed out, “G-Dragon is a very important figure in the fashion world, he is always invited to functions and fashion shows by foreign fashion brands, not just Louis Vuitton, but also St. Laurent and Chanel, it is very clear to see how influential he is on an international level. When it comes to artists, no matter how much one emphasize on methods and speed of image consumption, it would never be enough. The fact that YG consumed and expended G-Dragon just to save Moonshot, it is a huge pity.”

Another worry is that, the endorsement fee for Moonshot is very likely to be very different to his endorsement fees for other companies, concerning Moonshot, as an endorser, if “Moonshot’s dismal performance = G-Dragon’s failure”, then the possible negative impacts would be uncontrollable.

Part 3 - What happens if G-Dragon goes into the army? How will YGE survive then?

Because of his busy schedule, at the end of the day, the saddest are the fans, and it is possible that they may lose interests in possible new songs. Technically speaking, BIGBANG was the one who drove the development of South Korea’s primary music source chart, last year from May – August, when they starts “MADE” series with “Loser” in April, till “If You”, all 8 songs hugely popular.

It was originally planned that there would be a standard, regular “MADE” album in September last year, after the eight songs are released, however, right up to now, after 8 months, there are still no news of the new album. Looking from the fans’ points of view, the new album’s songwriting and producing is mainly GD’s work and responsibility, and it seems that it was YG’s mistake in exploiting and using GD that caused him unable to focus on songwriting and producing, it appears that YG caused the situation of fans constantly worrying. 

YGE was set up in February 1988, and since its inception, YG has already set up 13 subsidiary companies, making it a supersized entertainment label, it is estimated that the company’s total assets neared KRW 400,000,000,000. More accurately, from 29 April, YG’s market value is KRW 644,200,000,000. However, two of its subsidiaries- YG K+ (modelling agency) and a golf management company maintained a regular net profit of KRW 400,000,000 and KRW 80,000,000 respectively, very difficult to maintain surplus. It is very clear that YG is still looking for new ventures, but looking at the current situation, future prospects are still bleak.

Another side, with the departure of Gong Minzy from 2NE1, it will be very difficult for 2NE1 to have the same impact, same explosion as before. A bigger problem is who will take after BIGBANG? With the current new boy groups in YGE, the investors and investment firms are still not happy or satisfied with their performance, and it seemed that they do not hold any high anticipation for the new boy groups. In comparison with YGE’s competitors- SM and JYP, its own situation is so much more severe. SM’s new boy group- NCT whose fandom has already growing and at a scarily quick rate, JYP’s new rookie girl group – TWICE has already achieved an all-kill record in less than a year of debuting, with everyone anticipating them to be the next hit girl group.

When these two new rookie groups released new songs, SM and JYP’s stock values rose prominently, however the so-called new upcoming girl group that will debut soon under YGE, there are no more news of them, and Yang Hyunsuk has still not fulfilled the promise he made last year at a press conference that he will let the new girl group (Pink Punk) debut.

The biggest problem though, which is already prompting further doubts and questions of YG’s dark, unclear and bleak future, is the BIGBANG members’ compulsory military service and enlistment. This year, starting from T.O.P, the members will enlist successively, therefore the interruption to BIGBANG’s activities is an unavoidable question. BIGBANG’s hiatus will cause a blank period, and then, who will save YGE and its stock values? The investors are getting more wary and concerned now…

At first glance, while it seems that the author was mainly criticizing YG for using and exploiting G-Dragon by constantly playing the G-Dragon card, but the author actually also pointed out three underlying problems of YG himself, though not expressly said, the author’s last few paragraphs starting from mentioning the departure of Minzy from 2NE1, were enough to prompt questions as to YG’s problems, and in my discussion with other fellow V.I.Ps, there was a total consensus as to what his other problems are.

One, YG doesn’t seem to even try to hide favouritism, which is very clear and obvious in how he treats the artists in his roster, with the current most obvious favourite pet being iKON. AKMU and LEEHI’s recent comebacks are not a good sign, because rookie artists practically need to have at least one new comeback every year, to build up and maintain their popularity. However, YG right now is hard-selling iKON, to the point that some people are starting to get sick of it. What about WINNER? While iKON has been given numerous tour and concerts slots, it has been reported and said that there were always empty seats at their concert, WINNER was given fewer concert tour slots with their “EXIT” comeback, they didn’t even get to come to Hong Kong, when iKON get to this year.

Two, the way YG marketed iKON when they debuted, YG seemingly used BIGBANG or more specifically G-Dragon’s fame and reputation to push iKON forward, allowing and causing people to think that iKON used their seniors as stepping-stones to get to where they are today, which was also agreed amongst the V.I.Ps. In my personal opinion, I felt that WINNER’s debut and success is largely down to their own hard work and talents (may be it was because they had to work hard through the reality survival program- “WIN- Who is Next?”), but with iKON [I’m not saying that iKON is not talented], it somehow feels like that iKON debuted on the backs of their seniors’ fame rather than their own hard work, and I believe YG is to blame. iKON’s debut full album- “WELCOME BACK” contains a track- “I Miss You So Bad”, which was written by G-Dragon, and when it was reported that G-Dragon personally gifted iKON the song, YG’s response was rather amusing; he says one thing and then he does another. He said that he doesn’t want people to think that iKON is using BIGBANG’s fame, however, at the same time, he kept hard-selling and promoting the song (whilst not neglecting to mention G-Dragon’s name), isn’t that ‘singing a different tune’? If YG really didn’t want people to judge and suspect, he should kept it all on the down-low in the beginning, and not make a big deal out of it and just leave G-Dragon’s name in the ‘Credits’.

Finally, his biggest problem, he is not utilizing his artists to their full potential, when he is spending time on trying to open new ventures, and leaving his top artists to ‘rot’, on whom YG should be investing more on. He has many talented and skilled artists in his roster, but yet, he’s not really giving them the opportunities to develop and fulfil their potential. With Minzy choosing not to renew her contract with YG, I do not blame her, she was one of those who were not giving enough opportunities, after the incident with Bom, when 2NE1 was on a break; Sandara had both endorsement and acting activities, while YG focused mainly on CL, and where was Minzy? Minzy has so much potential and skills to debut as a soloist, but she was put on the backburner, while we heard so much about CL’s US debut, with which today we have heard no more news of, so where is CL’s America solo debut? Previously, I have also mentioned to my sister that I did not like SM not allowing Henry to fulfil his potential, someone of such a high music calibre, his activities was mainly limited to SJ-M, so when Henry was given solo debut with “Trap”, I was finally appeased.

Isn’t it time for YG to re-think his priorities instead? If he is going to utilize his artists, use them to their full potential and skills, so they can reach higher, and that in turn, will keep YGE successful in the long run. Please don’t waste any more time on failing or new ventures, and then ended up expending his artists just to save the failing brands or ventures.