OG (Graduated Members) / M-line Club / M-line Music

[TotallyUncool]

I basically hold idols up to the same standards as I do people I meet in real life -- which means that I expect them to be imperfect to the point of near (if not actual) disaster, and to frequently say and do things which would not hold up at all under critical public scrutiny.

I judge people just as much irl

If I did that, I wouldn't even be on speaking terms with myself, let alone anybody else.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

You mean residuals, not royalties. (A small but important difference; creators get royalties, performers get residuals.) And as far as I know, agencies in Japan don't pay residuals. Individual talents are salaried employees, and while they may get bonuses for particularly good months, they get diddly-squat after they leave.

That's why a talent leaving an agency, by scandal or by choice, is such a big deal.

Maybe there's a different reason as to why (I really wouldn't know, I've never looked into it that much), but Lehua mentioned in that February interview from this year that she still recieves money for the releases she participated in as a member of Coconuts. Is it that unlikely that Ichii is getting some amount of money for her time as well?

[fujii hina]

You mean residuals, not royalties. (A small but important difference; creators get royalties, performers get residuals.) And as far as I know, agencies in Japan don't pay residuals. Individual talents are salaried employees, and while they may get bonuses for particularly good months, they get diddly-squat after they leave.

But in WiT's interview with Lehua Sandbo of Coconuts Musume she said that she still receives royalties from Sony for the releases she participated in. But, in line with your point, it's probably not a lot.

[otaku_blue]

^

yeah thats why I said royalties. :s

[BerryzCelebration]

Personally I don't have a problem with her working with Akimoto or w/e. I wouldn't even have a problem with her doing porn if she wanted to.
The fact that she talks negatively and whines about the group/related that made her a somebody in the first place is what bugs me. She could easily leave that part out and still do whatever she wanna do to get money. Unless someone pays her 10k yen per complaint or w/e.

Is she really complaining thoug? It's more like she's saying "After being a past MM. member, I was surpised/felt left out when I wasn't asked to join DMM.". But she didn't stay under H!P/UFP after she left, so maybe she didn't actually realize that it was for UFP-related members only until later on. So maybe she just mentioned it. She's not even complaining or whining, she's just saying how she felt. Complaining is:

"They didn't add me to DMM., that was so unfair and I was a member too so I should have been added! That was so inconsiderate of them.".

Did she say that? I think not.

[Zunu]

^ Earlier you said, "can we drop this topic?" yet here you are still talking about it. I take it you really meant that you just want the people who disagree with you to drop the topic?

^^ In the US, anyway, residuals are an arrangement whereby artists who participate in a first run TV show or live audio performance get additional payments for repeat playing of the program. The term "residuals" doesn't generally apply to performing on music album. If you're a backup singer or guitarist hired to perform on a Morning Musume album, you will get paid for coming to the studio and participating in the recording sessions, and that's it. Hence the term "session musicians." However, as a soloist or member of a group that signs with a record company, your contract may contain a provision for royalties, which are perpetual for as long as the company continues to earn money on the copyright.

That doesn't apply to all soloists/group members. In some cases, especially if the group is put together by a manager/promoter, the group members are all essentially "session musicians" that get paid for participating in the group activities but have no ownership over the group itself. A hypothetical example: "Selena Gomez and The Scene." The Scene didn't exist before Selena rounded them up. They haven't released anything after they were discharged by her. So it's entirely possible that the band members were just hired to sing along with her and get no kind of royalties for their album work. Gomez might even own the trademark on the group itself. She might be able to reform the Scene in the future with entirely different members.

Simlarly, the arranger/sound producer etc. are hired employees and wouldn't normally get royalties even if their contribution to the work is very creative.

There's a different set of royalties that the composer/lyricist of a song collects. That's mostly Tsunku, but in the event that one of the girls was listed as a songwriter (for example Kaori on a couple songs, I think), she would get royalties for the public performance of that song, whether in her own recording or by someone else.

[boinsie]

Whether they're called residuals or royalties, I think the main point trying to be made here is that if Lehua's still getting paid, so too is Ichii. ^^;

[Zunu]

Boite the yand wot feeds yer, eh?

[boinsie]

Aye (yai yai).

[TotallyUncool]

It's nice to think that somebody's getting paid, in any event.

Spoiler: show

That's actually one of the two Big Issues that I've had about Jpop idols ever since I started paying attention to them. I've been hoping all along (and very possibly in vain):
a) That they actually are getting paid royalties/residuals/whatever beyond their salaries and day-to-day expenses, and
b) That they actually can have boyfriends (if they are so inclined), and they just manage to keep them under cover/between the sheets/whatever naughty metaphor you want to use.
I don't know whether there's any truth to either of those hypothetical possibilities, but there have been times when the thought that things actually might work in such a manner has been just about the only thing that's kept me from walking away from idol groups entirely, and strictly listening to indie art/noise bands.