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Kenkyusei’s salary for one stage is 5,000yen

  June 18, 2012
Akimoto Yasushi

Summary of the talk show

AkiP
“Because we get like 20,000 application for one stage which can only accept 250, it’s really difficult to win a ticket.”
Kura
“So is it 1,000 yen ticket?”
AkiP
“Now it’s 3,000 yen.”
Kura
“Okay so you increased the price. You are good at business, aren’t you.”
AkiP
“Yes, it’s partly because in the early period of AKB we wanted as many people as possible to experience our stage, but even though we increased the price to 3,000 yen, I think probably theater stage is far below the break even point. Though I’m not in charge of running the theater.”

“But it’s obviously in red. Because if 250 people buy 3,000 yen tickets, then we get 750,000yen. But now we spend tens of million of yens to create one Stage setlist, we hire around 100 staffs.”


*to avoid confusion, in this post, “Stage” stands for one series of stage such as A1th, S3rd etc, and “stage” means one stage performance.

Kura
“You spend tens of millions to make one Revue?”
AkiP
“Yes, sir. We need to make 7 to 8 costumes per Stage for all 16 members. We also factor in stand-in, so it’s would be total about 25 members.”
Kura
“And you pay salaries to members?”
AkiP
“Yes, we pay salaries to each members.”
Kura
“Equally?”
AkiP
“Not equally. Kenkyusei only get paid a little money like allowance, but we pay a lot to top members who have tons of other work, when they manage their time to appear on a stage. Though I don’t know specific numbers. But I heard there is a salary gap.”
Kura
“So how much they get paid?”
AkiP
“I heard Kenkyusei get paid 5,000 yen (US$48 / IDR 570.000) for one stage.”
Kura
“So you don’t know the exact numbers?”
AkiP
“Yes, I am a kind of person who can’t do business management, so I leave it to someone else.”

“And that’s the reason why I can stick to my taste like “I can’t compromise! This songs need costume like XX”, so we spend about 1.2-1.3 million yen (US$12,000) to make one song. Then, making 16 songs (for one Stage) needs about 20 million yen. (US$195,000)”

“So normally people start with expected revenue, in this case, 750K yen per one stage, and make something that can be profitable with this revenue… But in our case, I’m no business manager, so I make what I want to make, so I have no idea how profitable my work on theater Stage is. ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ftkpP_RMc

Fans discussion on 2channel

LOL Everyone  already knows their salary for one stage is 5,000yen. Only noobs are surprised with this news….
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Could give me reliable source to prove that everyone know this already?
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TGSK once told this in the drinking session with Ota. (once there was a cupsel toy vending machine at AKB48 theater and some capsels contained a ticket to drink with TGSK)
”

Regular members get the same salary??
”
I think back then, they didn’t differentiate regular members from Kenkyusei in terms of salary.
”
So, factor in the time for rehearsal and preparation, it’s would be like 1,000 yen per hour?
”
So that’s why top members who have plenty of non-theater work rarely appear  on a stage.
”
So let me calculate,
ticket price 3,000 yen x 250 audience = 750,000 yen per one stage
and members get
16 members x 5,000 yen = 80,000yen
So only 10% goes to members….
”
By the way, ticket price for KKS’s stage is 1,000 yen….
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But you know, they don’t have to spend much for clothes and bags because Ota present members tons of them.
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But since 8gen members aren’t allowed to receive presents from fans while they were KKS.
And this rule was more strict to 9gen, as they couldn’t receive gifts from fans until teams they belong to was officially announced.
So what the big deal about “promotion to a regular member” is that they will be allowed to get presents from fans.
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I want to know their salary for for Ariyoshi Kyowakyoku and Kami-TV….
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Considering binding hour, this salary is not at all good enough, and if they want to aim at top positions, they need to spend a lot of money, say, they need fine cloths for Akusyukai etc.
Beside, they pay transportation at their own expense, don’t they?
”
I think it’s only recently that they are got paid for clothing expense for Akusyukai.
Transportation has been paid from the early period.
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They are got paid for transportation cost.
That’s what Shimada said in TV show Shukan AKB, “We keep receipts in order to get paid back for transportation fee”
Though, of course it’s only within a certain limit.
The former Kenkyusei of SKE, Imade had commuted to Nagoya from Osaka by Shinkansen, and she once confessed “My parents were concerned about transportation cost.”

”
You are right, it’s only since one or two years ago we’ve started hearing about that they are got pair for clothing cost.
By the way, I heard directly from members that what’s the nicest thing about AKB48 getting very popular is quality of meals and Bento has increased…. lol
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I often hear that on sets, locations or concert venues, AKB have Hot Meal (:catering).
Actually Ohya Masana wrote this on her blog, like “Because this is a joint work with AKB-san, we can have Hot Meal”
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LOL even the big name AkiP looks a bit nervous in front of Kuramoto Satoshi (screenwriter, playwright and theatre director)
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I think it’s rather nice of AKB48 that trainees (Kenkyusei) don’t have to pay lesson fee, on the contrary they can even get paid.
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And that’s one of the big reasons why Nakayan, who aspire to become professional Seiyu, joined AKB48.
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And that’s why Okaro, who is from a poor family, joined AKB48, as she said “I decided to apply the audition for AKB48 because they say I can take lessons for free.”
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