![260812 Before 'Geoje Yaho' took off, the agency only had 13.03 million won [Outstanding Show Ep. 347] (The Muze Entertainment Financial Deep Dive)](https://external-preview.redd.it/-sOhl62uIU-JT4FulShzqPDWgNqdY5zmpss7wPYozwU.jpeg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=786c43751259c3affe9117fc9c02f7e7f711a607)
260812 Before 'Geoje Yaho' took off, the agency only had 13.03 million won [Outstanding Show Ep. 347] (The Muze Entertainment Financial Deep Dive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIwmC8Hb8Kc
Alert: Long Post. Skip to the last paragraph for a summary.
Some really good deep dive into the financials of The Muze Entertainment from inception to end of 2025. They obviously have not filed financials in 2026 so we don't have up to date info. Jump to 5:56 seconds in the video for the financial overview. The info is very dry... so to save you all some time here are some notes.
- Company had outside investments
- 800 M Won in 2021
- 500 M Won in 2022
- 1 B in 2023
- 1.5 B Won investment in 2024
- 3 B Won investment in 2025
- 2021: revenue of 7.58 M Won - from The Muze personnel working on music for other groups, loss of 373 M Won
- 2022: revenue 53 M Won - still from music work, net loss of 437 M Won
- 2023: revenue of 113 M Won - music work, net loss of 842 M Won
- 2024: revenue 2.1 B Won - from RESCENE album sales and associated streams, net loss of 208 M Won
- 2025: 1.77 B Won in revenue from sales, net loss of 5.6 BILLION Won
Here are my initial thoughts on these numbers:
- 2025 was a big net loss. However, the production costs for Glow Up, Dearest, and Lip Bomb were all from 2025. Most of the costs of the external costs for song writing, recording, and production.
- Glow Up 42k copies, Dearest sold 84km, Lip Bomb sold 100+ copies
- There is conjecture that a lot of the lip bomb sales were not reflected in the 2025 numbers, so that's why the revenue was lower in 2025 than it was in 2024.
- With all the net losses and the investments, The Muze had less that 700 M Won in cash assets
- If Lip Bomb sales were to have hit in 2026, they could potentially have much more than this
For me, the big takeaway here is that unless Lip Bomb revenue was being counted in 2026, then 2025 was not a good year. in 2026, Muze either needed to get another set of investments to continue, or would have to shut down operations. RESCENE selling 100K Lip Bomb albums is a BIG DEAL. However, normally at this time, RESCENE should have been making up revenue in festivals, appearances, and tours. Although they had fans willing to buy their albums, it appears that they were not popular enough to be booked for profitable appearances in 2025. And definitely not a headlining tour. If my math is correct, I 'm not even sure if The Muze could have supported another album without another large outside investment.
From the amount of appearances, album sales, and chart performance, it looks like 2026 was going to be a turnaround year for RESCENE and The Muze. If we dive deep into the rabbithole and start timelining their appearances in music shows, and other venues; it started picking up steam at the beginning of 2026. However, we will probably never know if it was because Lip Bomb finally got them mainstream notice, or if it was because of Woni starring in My Driving Instructor (first episode was August 2025). I assume it was probably both.
My opinion is that RESCENE was going on the way to blowing up. With each new album, their music was getting out there more. Looking on reddit/X/youtube, you can see plenty of people raving about Glow Up, Deja Vu, and Lip Bomb in 2025. They were picking up momentum. But unless The Muze got another large investment in 2026, the group may not have stayed around much longer. Their music may have been discovered by the general public AFTER the group went inactive. Luckily, we didn't have to find out if this would have happened. My Driving Instructor, anwonjalbu, and Geoje Yaho happened and the rest is history.