Most disputes and breakups between exclusive singers and their managing companies, which happen all too often, come down to singers’ discontentment with their low pays.

In contrast to their fame, singers who sign exclusive contracts with entertainment companies are usually paid poorly. Their basic monthly salaries usually oscillate between VND2 million (US$100) and VND3 million.

According to Nguyen Duy Khanh, director of Nhac Xanh Co., managing companies also pay their exclusive singers on each show, with the companies pocketing half or more.

In some rare cases, singers are paid more than VND10 million a month as members of popular V.Music boyband are. However, they aren’t paid after each show, but receive bonuses when they sign commercial, film acting contracts or take part in special shows.

Thanh Trung, V.Music’s manager, said that most companies can’t afford to pay their singers higher incomes, as they cover all singers’ expenses and also pay for their music productions. Singers’ incomes thus mostly depend on the density of their performing and other commercial activities.

Like in other developed countries, most split-ups occur with bands, as even top local bands can never earn as much as leading solo singers, and the band’s pay also has to be divided among members and their companies. Show managers usually hesitate about inviting bands to join their shows, especially if the shows take place in other provinces, as travelling and accommodation expenses will multiply.

Composer–singer Thanh Bui said before he made it into the Australian Idol’s top 8, he was a member of a band called “North”.

“To sign the exclusive contract with an Australian company, apart from sharpening my performing and composing skills, I had to go on intensive diets to lose weight and have my nearsighted eyes operated. My band performed across Australia and several Asian countries during four years, but after the contract termination, I earned only less than AUD10,000 (US$9,178),” Thanh sadly recalled.

However, Thanh pointed out that exclusive singers do benefit from the training and fame, if any, they get during their exclusive term, which may serve as a good platform for their independent singing career later.

In recent years, to cope with the singing sector’s declining incomes compared to previous years, the companies have begun encouraging their group singers to seek solo singing opportunities or work in other areas, such as acting in films and commercials, working as models, VJs and MCs or releasing striking photo shoots, to earn more income and boost group popularity. 

Many exclusive singers and companies also think that exclusive contracts’ validity should be limited to some years only to avoid premature, loss-causing contract termination and give the singers and companies opportunities to seek independence or new partnership.

The companies also have to come to terms with the fact that they can’t ‘monopolize’ their exclusive singers for long though they train the singers in their infancy and pave their way to fame.

However, following exclusive contract termination, the companies and singers maintain their good relationship and go on to cooperate seasonally or in special occasions, from which the singers are no longer reliant and earn considerably more.

According to Hoang Tuan, manager of singer Dan Truong, who recently accused a female fan of extorting him of whopping sums, deal making is the soundest way to maintain exclusive cooperation.

After 16 years in cooperation, despite unavoidable, occasional disputes between him and Truong, the pair has been on good terms so far.

Thuy Nguyen, a Vietnamese expat, director of Tai Nang Moi Co., which has inked exclusive contracts with singer Nguyen Phi Hung since 1998, noted that as things typically don’t go as planned in Vietnam, mutual understanding and respect between her company and Hung, not the contracts, has cemented their cooperation.

Meanwhile, Dang Phu Hai, singer Duc Tuan’s over-10-year manager, put their long-standing collaboration down to sheer destiny and luck.