Former SM Entertainment Artist Earns More At His New Job Than His 25 Years Of Music Career

A former SM Entertainment artist recently revealed that his earnings as a popular musician could not match up to the money he now makes after a drastic career shift.

Brian Joo | NewDaily

The singer in question is Brian from the popular duo Fly To The Sky. He and the other member, Hwanhee, debuted as K-Pop idols in 1999, but their more mature image catapulted them among South Korea’s most popular R&B groups.

Fly To The Sky’s Hwanhee (left) and Brian (right) | Wikitree

However, fame and wealth are often not equivalent in the music industry. Brian provided glaring evidence of this fact during his recent guest appearance on the January 3 broadcast of Radio Star. In this episode, he shared his journey to becoming a show host from a singer and how it changed his financial situation.

Brian on “Radio Star” | MBC

Brian explained that his vocal condition had not been the best for a while, and so he was in search for other activities other than singing to continue his career. During this time, he was contacted by a home shopping network for a job as a host, and it turned out to be a good match for him.

Eventually, a major company proposed him to try live commerce. Initially, Brian was supposed to do only 2-3 episodes, but the response was so good that he ended up becoming a permanent member. According to the singer himself, the total sales he generated for the brand in a year amounted to ₩15.7 billion KRW (about $11.9 million USD), and his own income from the job was quite handsome.

When the other guests on the show asked if Brian’s current income matches up to the earnings from his multiple hit songs, he surprisingly confessed that the amount he has earned in the last 2-3 years in live commerce is more than all the money he has made in the last 25 years as a singer. In fact, during the first seven years after his debut, Brian did not have any income. But with his current affluence, he has bought around 300 pyeong (around 10675 square feet) of land!