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Discussion
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How do they recruit the members?
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Do they go through any kind of training?
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What does it take to become a 48 member?
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Do members get paid? Is it a good salary or a piss poor one?
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What's the longest someone was a 48 member?
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How long is an average contract for a 48 member?
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They hold auditions. They also occasionally hold a 'Draft Kaigi' where the top members, usually the older members that know what AKB needs, hold auditions to draft girls they want to their team. Goto Moe was drafted by AKB legend Oshima Yuko and she thanks her every year in her SSK speech.
Training is basically just learning theater songs. They aren't taught the art of dance or singing or anything like that, more like 'you are performing this song tomorrow, learn it'.
A question that even the girls don't really know. They let in pretty ones, not so pretty ones, talented ones and untalented ones. They're just looking for a 'special something' and sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't.
AFAIK members receive minimum wage. Top members make celebrity salary through endorsements, magazines, photoshoots, and of course actually getting to appear in and promote singles.
There's only one first generation member left, Minegishi Minami. She's on her 13th year.
They leave when they want to. In some cases (mainly the first gen) Aki-P begs them to stay as long as possible. Takahashi Minami and Kojima Haruna would have left years earlier if he didn't guilt them into staying.
The absolute lowest ranking ones may, they did in the past at least. But there was a show where some former members spilled the tea and discussed payment. They said they have an evaluation where they are rated out of 10 points on various categories like handshake sales, how well they're representing the group or something. I'm not sure what all the categories are. But the top end number that's been thrown around even before this evaluation stuff came out was something like $200k salary for top members, and then of course they make their own money(the big money for some) from outside work as you mention.
For some idea about what a midrange member might have made, one of the girls who was leaking a lot of this stuff Nishino Miki was complaining on a show that before she graduated that she could afford a $2100 per month apartment in Tokyo, and now has to live in one that's ike $800 or something. So we can assume that it's not just like minimum wage for everyone but the very top, since $2100 a month must have meant a decent salary unless she's crazy enough to spend most of her salary on rent, lol.
But yeah, like you said before outside jobs are where the real money is. I was pleased to find out that even marginalized girls on Team 8 apparently get lots of opportunity for outside work back in their home prefecture. That was on one of the recent AKBingo episodes. Also, I bet Toyota pays better than minimum wage. Although you never know.
Sashihara Rino once said that her first pay check from AKB is something close to 500 per month. Takamina also mentioned that number before also. But that was long time ago when AKB is still in its early days. So no idea what's the starting salary now. Sashihara right now probably make the most money out of all Japanese idols. She gets a fixed salary from AKB group. AKB group members get fixed salary that is proportional to seniority, how much goods sold, handshake tickets sold, sousenkyo ranking, miscellaneous contribution to the group, etc. She and a few other earlier members like Minegishi Minami, was signed to outside agencies. So Ohta pro, Sashi's agency, get her MC jobs, TV shows appearances, commercials, etc. And she get paid from Ohta pro in addition to Akb's salary.
That is SO sweet.
Do those who audition by learning the AKB songs and performing them have a higher chance of making it?
This just reminded me of the video of Sakura's audition for p48 being Boombayah. She knew...😂😂😂
All the girls who passes the AKB auditions become "Kenkyuusei", which is the equivalent of a trainee of sorts. They are "research" students who aren't typically allowed on actual performances yet. It's very hard to become popular there but it's happened I suppose.
It varies greatly how long each person stays as a trainee. There's been some who has been trainees for years before being promoted. Being able to perform the AKB songs is pretty vital there I think in order to promote, regardless of the reasons they passed auditions on.
Just to show you how arbitrary auditions can be Takahashi Minami who was the general manager of the group for a long time, was picked up because she was 148.5cm tall and born on April 8th. Talent isn't necessarily dominant, and that is probably a big difference compared to the Korean system.
Super arbitrary but Aki-P also hit a literally lucky goldmine in Takamina. Literally the heart and soul of what built AKB.
Yup
Oshima Yuko being called a legend makes me feel old lmao. It seems like it was just yesterday when I used to see her and Atsuko Maeda in the daily Japanese news.
Could you explain this one more about their situation?
First gen members that had been in the group for a long time and just wanted to leave and focus on solo careers, plus most of their friends had graduated and with the influx of young members in senbatsu it was getting awkward. Aki-P has always favored the first gens for obvious reasons and wanted them to stay (specifically asked Kojima to stay until she was 30, she stayed until 29). Also probably a matter of fear. They're some of the most popular and well known members to the general public, he probably didn't want to lose more cash cows.
Takahashi Minami gets a lot of hate from their annoying Stage48 fans for 'dragging her graduation out for a year' but it was literally because Aki-P wouldn't let her leave lmao. She literally cried because it kept getting postponed.
Can you tell me how old is Minegishi Minami now and why she isn't graduated yet? I rarely see her in the new AKBingo so I wonder why she stays..does she has a solo career of sort??
She's 25 (92' line). And in her case I can only assume it's the same case as Myao, they enjoy being idols and enjoy performing which would more than likely come to an end if they graduated. Miichan is well known to the general public and relatively popular still but I doubt she would have much of a career as a soloist, despite being a decent singer. She's more of a variety queen in the vein of Sasshi so that's probably what she'd do when she graduates, but I think she wants to keep performing.
She's also a great senpai and all of the young girls love her so she probably wants to keep looking after them and teaching them. When Mako said on the show that she learned by watching senpais in regards to AKB's lack of training, Miichan was who she was referring to. She really looked after Mako and the other girls from her generation.
I think her scandal also took a huge hit to her popularity, so she's trying to build it back again first. Though I hope she stays for a bit longer too because she's really a great senpai to the new members ;-; I got emotional when I saw how much Team 4 loved her when she was the leader. (She's also my oshi, so I hope she doesn't graduate soon, even though it's been a topic since kojiharu'e grad)
They were two of the most popular membere and AKS didnt want them to graduate.
He beg of Kami7 to stay lol but one after another left
Thanks for answering. I’ve been so curious.
you should take a look at their documentary film "The show must go on" to know what it's like to be in AKB48 (it's on Netflix too). it's GRUELLING and girls literally just collapsed one by one backstage.
Yikes, I'll give it a go, thank you.
What they described on the documentary doesn't seem to be something that applies specific to these idol groups. Any performer knows the struggle that it is to make a live performance, specially when you have to walk miles to greet people with a smile plus having to do the dances. Wasn't Katy Perry the one that turned into a meme because she literally had a psychotic episode on stage?
What I mean it's that please don't look at that and feel pity for the girls, they are all there because they believe they are able to reach for something greater than ordinary - also, no one are obliging them to do something they don't want to. And it's not about a cultural different, it's about the will power.
uh what did katy perry do on the stage??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGiyulUZZXE
https://youtu.be/TMO4NH8HAHQ I think others have pretty much summed it up but yeah Top members are rich. Unknown members are poor. This is a NMB member who said she can't afford chicken nuggets <3 (she also has a gaming Channel on YT but no subs)
Before people are feeling too sorry for these girls, being an idol is a job they have beside school - pretty sure they would rather do that than flip burgers.
Agree completely. It's a choice they made no one is forcing them to do it too lol.
I just want to say that the company that owns and runs NMB is notoriously stingy and greedy(even though they are the #1 agency for comedy in Japan, Yoshimoto). I think AKB proper members get more money and definitely get better food, catering, other perks ect.
Yeah, the main compensation from NMB is when Miru gives them gifts. Kidding, of course.
Yep, Yoshimoto is trash. Until recently, girls who graduated and left the company weren't even allowed to work in entertainment for two years after the fact. This is a career killer and probably was intended to be so.
apparently new NMB contracts don't have that clause anymore
Thank you for providing a link and answering.
I know Sakura also has a channel so it raises the question - where do they find the time to play games and even stream it/upload it? How busy is an average AKB member if you don't mind answering?
Here is the schedule of one of the top AKB members, Yukirin, so she has more regular radio shows compared to a regular one. Between the single promotions, They still have a lot of time to do whatever they want. The regular AKB usually not getting a lot of work opportunity, so they have a lot of free time.
http://kashiwagiyukirin.com/schedule/
note: this is what I found from Google, so I cannot attest to its accuracy.
Dang it, I didn't need to know that, now I want to be a member.
Thank you though.
The range is huge, because then you have cases now like Jurina working herself into a health crisis and going on hiatus.
Sashihara is known to work a crazy amount. There's some shows(Sashihara no Ran) and the HKT documentary where you can see her finishing a full day of work and then still working during the whole evening, whether it was editing the documentry or doing meetings at night in in Sashihara no Ran. You can see in her eyes how tired she is but she doesn't seem to hesitate at all to push through. Even Aki-P made some kind of comment about telling her to slow down or something. And these days I see that she's start producing her own idol group on her own in addition to everything else.
And then you have members who aren't doing as much and still attend school or university full time. When you combine that with the idol thing it can add up to a lot of work too, even when they're not necessarily doing too much as an idol. There will still be periods of crazy schedules though.
Oh, wow, that's crazy.
To clarify, when they are busy, they are really busy. Some of them have a radio show (ANN) from 0:00 AM to 3-4 AM. Also, they usually have a 5-8 hours of photo-shoot session for top members.
As a person who's incapable of doing anything in moderation, I feel like this would fit me.
Thank you for your reply!
For unknown members you're working maybe 2-3 days a week, a lot of girls especially back in the day just did it as a part tiem job during high school and graduated for uni
In one TV show featuring Shinoda Mariko, former top AKB member, and current young AKB generation. Shinoda Mariko said that when she was in AKB, she only have 3 days off per year (no weekends). Then I believe Chiyori or some other current member said that she sometimes have 3 days off per week. Another younger member chimed in and said she sometimes have 5 days off per week. To which the show MC said that so you are more or less a regular school student schedule.
Yeah I remember watching that which is what I was using as a reference for 2-3 days a week for newbie members
Can I join AKB48....I'm a man....but a pretty man. At least my GF said so.
HKT48 did one time opened auditions to male idols. So yep, you still have a chance (they did put a age limit though..._)
Yoshimotozaka46 is open to males (but u have to be signed to Yoshimoto first xd)
Just wanted to add extra info that I haven't seen
General auditions happen ever couple years but the drafts happen in between them
No outside of the general basic training to teach the choreography. Even a top member has mentioned recently that she wants to improve her singing so she's getting vocal lessons herself
It's hard to tell what management looks for in the auditions. Each sister group also has different images, AKB is more of a girl next door relatable girl group, SKE had more dance focused, NMB focuses on comedy and sexiness, HKT is the younger and fresh look. I think management outside of vocal and dance talent looks for star appeal most of all
When you thinking of applying?
As soon as they announce they're making a Caucasian sister group
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Thank you, I don't need a college degree anyway. Where can I apply?
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Thank you! Keep your fingers crossed!!!
seeing how greedy AKIP is, we might actually get NYC48, TEX48 or something lol
hahahaha I can imagine..
"Forget USA48! Ima make a 48g group out of y'alls states including mahfuggin Alaska!! Even Puerto Rico!"
That doesn't even sound that far fetched considering that's what Toyota does with Team 8 in Japan, and they have the money to do the same in the US if they wanted to. 😂
America needs a new girl group (5H is lowkey dead so) so when will X-Factor and AKB48 finally collaborate? We can call it X-Factor48 or something like that.
don't give aki-p ideas or he'll really do it 😂
Yeah I don't know if it was pure luck or genius of him that he didn't choose country initials when he named AKB48 lol
Aki-P sent Iriyama Anna who is fairly popular and a top visual to Mexico to star in a drama or something. So the first steps towards that type of thing are happening I guess. You never know what we might see. No one believe p48 was real at first from what I remember. 😂
I'm not sure if a Simon Cowell and Aki-P collaboration will take over the global idol industry or end up being a trainwreck. Probably both.
Maybe the final product will be a disaster, but the making process could make some good TV money.
48 factor?
final group will be like 48! lol
I propose the US sister group be called WTF48.
When Mexico approach AKP, the tv news announcing that did mentioned something about expanding to western, pointing a group not only in the US but in Brazil too. But at that time the it didnt follow trough because Mexico though it was a competition between the members and thats not one of the values that Akimoto have with the 48&46G Family (his words for the local news).
AKI-P is now experimenting with Mexico trough a collaboration sending one of their member to a soap opera called Like, the member is AKB48 Iriyama Anna.
(https://aramajapan.com/news/tvmovie/dramas/akb48-anna-iriyama-selected-as-co-lead-for-mexican-telenovela-like/86117/)
Currently AKS is collaborating with Mexican Telenovela, with Anna Iriyama joined a telenovela called L.I.K.E. (Theme song (?). Anna Iriyama is on 0.25 on the video). (interview with Spanish sub) Just hope that AKS would somehow make a collaboration with someone stateside (assuming you live in The States)
Nah, I live in Croatia hahah
From what I've heard so far, AKS has been collaborating with a lot of people.
If they made a Mediterranean one lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGQRJltFpQ4 Watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K1F0YvuJjw
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Thank you so much for answering!
Is this a quiz or something?
Jokes aside, AKB normally has auditions or drafts, where members are chosen by management or team captains respectively, there's generally no formal training as of late, but of course they have practice and whatnot, members get paid anywhere from a part-time job salary to real money to making real bank (top members are easily in the multi-six digits), Minegishi Minami's been around since the beginning so like 13 years and counting, and contract length really can be anywhere from a few months to years, it really depends on when the girls want to graduate.
Hahah, I just realized it does look like a test. Hopefully I didn't come off too intimidating.
Ooh, interesting. Has there ever been a case of nepotism? You know, someone close to a team captain decides to audition and the team captain passes them because they know them.
What is the process behind graduation? Does a member just walk up to their superior, tell them they want to graduate and the superior gives them something to sign to seal the deal? Or is it a bit more complex?
I wouldn’t say nepotism, but Sasshi asked Nako to audition and she got through. This wasn’t through the draft system. Tomu’s sister is also in AKB. Also not through the draft system. Honestly nepotism isn’t really a concern.
Graduation is political. If you’re not important you can graduate whenever, like when Miyu announced it. Otherwise it may be more elaborate with the whole graduation being a concert in itself and whatnot.
Graduation concerts for top members are quite epic. That Yuko graduation where she floated away across the stadium was quite the spectacle.
I see. Thank you for all your replies, I've learned a lot :D
I wish you're interested in joining akbs :D
I'm white as hell so I don't think I stand a chance haha. Unless they decide to make a European sister group, maybe then.
There was an American girl in AKB for a while(half Japanese). You never know until you try...👌
Also a Taiwanese member too now that I think about it. She's not Japanese at all. Maybe it would be an advantage.
I'm one half Croatian and one half Croatian so what do you think? There's a chance?
Well NGT48 did shot their latest single in Russia, with a really white european idolish looking girl. :) (Dunno if I can say russians are asians or europeans, sorry)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHQWuCxXCg
Yes, Slav power!
Qw
its easier if you're willing to show some skin.