Entertainment agencies play an important role in producing and distributing media contents together with broadcasting networks, independent production companies, and (star) entertainers. While domestic entertainment agencies have developed into the fo...
Entertainment agencies play an important role in producing and distributing media contents together with broadcasting networks, independent production companies, and (star) entertainers. While domestic entertainment agencies have developed into the form of enterprises, financiers, and making globalizational, they are still mired in the premodern factors such as irrational management system, ill practices of management officials and illegal contracts.
This study explored the types and formation process of domestic entertainment agencies and examined the management system focused on the differences in the attributes of actors and singers. Also, this study inquired how those differences are reflected in agencies members' communication and decision-making and what the differences in making an exclusive contract with actors and singers are.
This study incorporated both qualitative (depth interview) and quantitative method (paper and pencil survey) to make up for weakness and amplify the strength of each method. The four research questions are proposed. first, what are the type and formation processes of domestic entertainment agencies? Second, how are different between actors and singers according to their attributes? Third, how are differences between managing actors and singers reflected in agencies' decision-making process? finally, how are different the methods of making the exclusive contract between with actors and with singers?
The results of the study are as follows:
1) Through the first research question, the study found that domestic entertainment agencies initiated from singer management-agencies in 1970s developed from the familial business to the small companies, to the enterprises, the financiers, the big-name entertainment agencies, and to small and medium enterprises again. But these days they are developing as the family-like oriented enterprises with a superstar system, repeating M&A and specialization, amalgamation and fragmentation in their appearance.
2) Through the second research question, the study found that there are several characteristics in the agencies' management of the actors and signers. First, the role of public relations is more significant and important in singer management than in that of actors. Second, the agencies involve an enormous upfront investment in managing singers before singers make their debut in the entertainment business; however, actors do not require investment costs. Third, there is a difference between singers and actors in the terms of compensation with damage. The agencies ask more money (in the terms of compensation with damage) to the singers than actors when they break the contract.
3) On the third research question, the study found that there is a difference in decision-making process between entertainment agencies of actors and those of singers. In the agencies managing actors, as the type of decentralizing system, the decision-making is likely to be done by stars(who can exert his or her influence over agencies), the president of the agency, and road-manager. On the other hand, in the agencies managing singers, as the type of the centralizing system, the president of the agency has a power to make a decision.
4) Lastly, the study found that there is a difference between the type of contract of actors and signers depending on how to share the risk. In other words, the agencies managing singers with high risk select the way which provide more reward to the agencies than to entertainers. On the other hands, the agencies managing actors that has low risk (because of its low investment cost) select the way that provides more benefit to the actors in the terms of revenue sharing.
Based on this study's findings, future study should explore the problems of the domestic entertainment management, suggesting several desirable directions for the domestic entertainment industry in the 21st century.