How to Audition for K-pop: The Complete Guide (Requirements, Age, Video)

Short answer: To audition for a K-pop company, find the company's official audition notice, check its eligibility rules (birth year, gender, nationality) and categories (vocal, dance, rap, visual), and then submit an online application with the required video and photos, or attend a scheduled offline or global audition. Rules change for each program, so follow the current notice exactly.

This guide is for aspiring trainees, including students aged 5+. It maps how K-pop auditions actually work: the types of calls, the real screening standard, when people usually start, how to know if you are ready, how to prepare, how to film, and how to apply without getting lost in rumors. Each step links to the Keens guide that goes deep on that one question. The notice still wins on eligibility and file rules. This page is the map, not a substitute for the posting you are about to enter.

How K-pop auditions work

An audition is a company's way of seeing whether you are worth training. It is not a debut. Passing means you may be invited into that company's training system. The public part — the form, the video, the room — is short. The decision behind it is about skill, how you read on camera, and whether the company has a reason to spend years developing you.

There is no single count of "how many auditions are there in K-pop." Companies open and close calls on their own calendars. Some run all year. Some appear for a few weeks in one city. The live list is whatever is posted on each company's official audition page today.

Types of auditions

You will usually meet one of four formats. The names change. The job of each format does not.

• Online or rolling applications. You submit video and photos through the company's site. JYP's online audition, checked on the official page on 15 October 2026, is a standing call: no age, gender, or nationality restriction, with results sent individually to people who pass. A submitted application on that page cannot be edited, so the files you upload are the files they see. Start at JYP's online audition.
• Global tours or city auditions. The company names dates and cities, and you pre-apply or register on site. YG's 2026 Global Audition is this kind of tour. On the USA notice dated 14 September 2026, eligibility is birth years 2008–2015, any gender or nationality, and one category (vocal, rap, or dance, within one minute). Applicants under 18 need consent from a parent or legal guardian, or they need to be accompanied by one. The same schedule says you may apply only once across the whole 2026 YG Global Audition. Read the city notice you are actually entering at YG Audition. The USA notice is posted here.
• Special or event auditions. A labeled project — a new group, a band call, a seasonal round — with its own window and its own rules. A special round can sit next to a rolling online call from the same company and still use different birth years, categories, and deadlines.
• Casting. Someone at the company, or a caster working with them, invites you in. You still need a tape or a live performance that holds up. Casting is not a secret door around the standard.

HYBE is not one audition. Labels connected to HYBE post their own notices. BIGHIT MUSIC's audition page is one place to look. SM Entertainment does the same on its own official page. Do not treat a fan chart, a last-year screenshot, or a repost as the rule. If the notice and a social post disagree, follow the notice on the official domain.

What happens after you apply

Steps vary by company. Say that plainly, because a tidy five-stage diagram copied from one agency will be wrong for the next.

In general, three things happen. First, someone screens the file or the first live round: eligibility, then whether the performance is strong enough to keep watching. Second, some applicants are called back — another video, an in-person round, or a longer evaluation. Third, a pass can mean an offer to join that company's training system, which is a trainee period under a contract, not a debut date.

Many notices say only the people who pass are contacted. Silence is not a detailed critique. It also is not a ban from every other company. Keep the confirmation from your submission, note the round you entered, and keep training for the next honest tape.

K-pop audition requirements: the real standard

The published requirements are usually an eligible birth year and one chosen category. That is the paperwork. The real standard is how you perform: skill level, energy, likability, and visuals, plus readiness to keep training.

Agencies publish the gates that decide whether your file is even opened. A notice might limit birth year, gender, or nationality, and it will name the categories it is casting: vocal, dance, rap, visual, sometimes acting. Those gates are real. If your birth year sits outside the notice, that round will not review you, and sending the tape anyway does not create an exception.

What the notice rarely prints is the screening standard. Evaluators are watching whether your current skill is trainable, whether you stay alive on camera, whether your proportions read clearly in motion, and whether you look ready to take correction. A category choice tells them where to look first. It does not lower the bar. A vocal submission still needs pitch and breath that hold up. A dance submission still needs rhythm and finished lines. Korean matters more as a sign of effort than as a fluency test at the first global submission. A short introduction in Korean can help. It does not replace a weak performance.

Checking your level before you submit shows whether to apply now or train first. That is the decision the paperwork cannot make for you.

Read the full breakdown in K-Pop Audition Requirements: Age, Skills, Visuals.

What age should you audition?

There is no single K-pop audition age limit. Ranges vary by company and program. The only age rule that applies to you is the birth year, or the age, printed on the notice for the round you are entering. A global tour, a domestic open call, and a special project from the same company can list three different windows in the same season.

Many applicants start auditioning around 11–12. That is a common starting point, not a law. It gives a company several years of training before a debut window, and it is when many applicants first have enough control to make a tape readable. Plenty of people audition later. Some audition earlier when a notice allows it.

Training starts earlier, at 5+. Auditions are a checkpoint. The years before that checkpoint are for rhythm, coordination, pitch, and comfort on camera. Starting training at 5+ does not mean auditioning at 5+. It means the basics are not brand new on the day you finally press submit.

Age changes the level you need to show. A younger applicant is often read for potential and learning speed. An older applicant is read for the level they already have, because the runway is shorter. "Am I too old?" is a weaker question than "does my current level make sense for my age, on this notice?"

The full picture, including how to read one company's minimum age off the live notice, is in K-pop Audition Age Limit: When to Start.

What agencies actually look for

The first read is not your outfit, and it is not a hunt for a perfect face. In Keens evaluations, instructors look first at four signals.

• Skill level. High, medium, or low in current dance or vocal readiness. You do not need to be finished. You need control and a reason to believe you can be trained.
• Likability. Not pretty versus ugly. Whether you feel memorable and camera-friendly. Unless someone has a truly exceptional face, visuals are one factor among the four.
• Energy. Expressive rather than robotic, bright rather than empty. Accurate choreography with no energy still reads flat.
• Proportions. Not a weight category. Height, face, limbs, and how the body reads while it moves.

Jay Kim, vocal trainer and Training Director at Keens, puts the practice side of that standard in one line: "You have to keep practicing. You have to keep doing the basics, keep trying to get better — but more trainees than you'd think don't actually do that."

The four signals, and what "ready" looks like when you can own one piece instead of surviving a harder one, are in K-Pop Audition Prep: What Agencies Actually Look For.

Are you ready? Know your level first

Most people asking "how do I know if I'm good enough?" are really asking whether to submit this month or train first. Feeling nervous does not answer it. A level does.

Signs you're ready vs should train first

You are closer to ready when the first honest take is usable, your rhythm holds when the choreography gets harder, your weakest skill does not collapse the whole tape, and your face shows that you chose the moment. You should train first when timing drifts as soon as the moves get difficult, lines stop short, your energy shrinks on camera, or your vocal only works while you stand still in a quiet room.

Reassurance from friends is not a level. If you need ten opinions before you can send the file, you need one qualified read.

The signs, and what to do with each one, are in How to Know If You Are Good Enough for K-Pop Auditions.

The 0–10 trainee level scale

Keens scores trainees on a 0–10 scale built from training @ Seoul. Two marks matter for this decision, and both come from that scale as it is already defined.

• Level 5 means trainee basics are present: a clean slate, with rhythm, line, and balance in place. For a young trainee, that base can already be worth developing.
• Level 7 means audition-ready: you learn choreography quickly, you get stage-ready fast, and the performance has a quality that separates it from a clean copy.

Age changes how those marks are read. On the same scale, a young trainee, especially under 17, can already be competitive around Level 5–6. Older applicants are usually expected to be closer to Level 6–8, because there is less time to build what the tape does not show yet. Level 8–9 is rare without professional-level training. No major agency publishes a required score. The scale is how you decide whether this tape is the one to send.

The full scale is in K-Pop Trainee Level Test: What Score Do You Need?.

A kpop academy audition, or a level test inside a training program, is not the same event as a company audition. An academy score tells you where you stand against a training standard. A company audition decides whether that company wants to train you. Use the first so you do not waste the second.

Before you pick a company, get the number. A Level Check scores your footage 0–10 and tells you the weakest dimension. That dimension is what you train next. It is also what tells you to submit now or wait.

How to prepare for your audition

Preparation is a path with a date on it, not a mood. You need a baseline, one lane to lead with, and a tape that shows today's level honestly.

Train at home

You can copy the structure of trainee practice at home: a fixed week, fundamentals before new choreography, filming, and a monthly comparison against your own last take. Ten to fifteen focused hours a week, repeated, beats a huge week followed by nothing. The piece you cannot copy alone is a trained eye. Build an outside read into the month.

The weekly schedule, the drills, and how a home routine becomes a tape are in How to Train at Home for a K-pop Audition.

A 30-day plan

If you already have basics, 30 days is enough to choose material you can own, fix the most visible weakness, film a clean tape, and submit. It is not enough to become a different performer. The plan fails if you practice and never send the file.

Week by week, from the level check through submission, is in Prepare for Your First K-Pop Audition in 30 Days.

Building skills

Evaluators hear pitch, stability, tone, and breath before they care how high you can sing. They see rhythm, finished lines, and expression before they count how many covers you know. Train the lane you will lead with, and keep the other from falling apart.

Build the skill in the order evaluators notice it. For vocal, that is breath and stable pitch on a short section before range. For dance, that is rhythm, isolations, and finished lines before another full cover. Film the same 30 to 60 seconds every few days and keep the take where the weakness gets smaller, not the take where you survived something harder. When the lane is obvious in the first seconds, you are ready to turn practice into a submission.

• Vocal work, including a daily routine you can run online: K-pop Vocal Training Online.
• Dance fundamentals and a weekly drill plan: Kpop Dance Training Online.
• Which program to use once you know the gap: Best Online K-Pop Training Programs [2026].

How to make your audition video

The notice decides length, file type, and whether vocal and dance are separate. This is the kpop audition video checklist for everything the notice does not replace: a tape an evaluator can actually judge.

• Camera. A phone is enough. Lock it down. A propped phone beats a friend trying to follow you.
• Light. Face the light. If the window is behind you, your face disappears.
• Audio. For vocal, the voice has to be clearer than the room and clearer than the track. No pitch correction.
• Framing. Dance needs head to feet for the whole clip. Do not crop the lines you want credit for.
• Material. Show your strongest current skill, not the hardest song you can survive.
• Introduction. Name, age, where you are, and what you will perform. Look at the lens. If the notice asks for Korean, practice that version until it sounds like you.

No jump cuts that hide mistakes. No filters that change your face. Watch the file once on another device before you upload it. If the notice names a length, that number is the rule for that round only. A current YG city notice asks for about a minute. Another company's posting can ask for something else. There is no universal kpop audition video length, so do not trim or pad toward a number you saw on a different call.

Camera, light, audio, framing, material, and the pre-submit list are spelled out in How to Prepare a K-pop Audition Tape.

How to apply to a K-pop company, step by step

Apply only through the company's own audition page or the official account that links to it. A repost, a "we will submit for you" account, or a form on a lookalike domain is how people lose the file. If you cannot trace the form back to the company's official site, do not send it. Do not pay a third party, a fan account, or a "manager" to press submit for you. Whether that round itself charges anything is written on the official notice, and only there.

1. Find the official notice. Open the company's audition site and select the round that is actually open. JYP's list lives at JYP's audition list. YG's lives at yg-audition.com. Save the notice, including the date on it.
2. Check eligibility and category. Birth year, gender, nationality, and the category you are allowed to enter. If you are outside the window, skip this round. If the notice says one category, do not split yourself across two.
3. Prepare files to the spec. Length, format, photo rules, and any introduction language the notice names. Match the spec. A strong performance in the wrong file type is still an incomplete application.
4. Submit and save the confirmation. Use the email you actually check. Screenshot or save the confirmation. On JYP's online audition, the submitted application cannot be modified, so check the files before you send them.
5. Watch for results. Many companies contact only the people who pass. Keep training on a schedule instead of refreshing one inbox. Note whether that program allows another application this cycle. YG's 2026 Global Audition notices say one application across the whole schedule.

Auditioning from outside Korea

You do not need to move to Korea to send a first audition. Global tours and online submissions are how most international applicants get seen. Your passport is rarely the first gate. A tape that hides your body, buries your voice, or uses material you cannot control will end the round faster than a foreign address will.

The practical order from outside Korea is the same as from anywhere else: know your level, make one lane obvious, train the weakest visible gap, film a clean tape at home, and submit to the official global or online call. Korean helps later, inside training. It should not be the reason you never send the file. Travel @ Seoul when you know what you need from being there, not as a substitute for a level.

The full path for international trainees is in K-pop Trainee Programs for Foreigners.

After you pass: trainee life and contracts

A pass is an invitation into a company's training system. You train, you are evaluated, and you may later be offered a trainee contract: exclusivity, a term, what the company provides, and how the deal can end. That contract is not the same document as an artist contract after debut, though some companies combine the stages. Terms differ by company. Read them, and have a qualified lawyer review anything you are asked to sign. Paying someone to "guarantee" a trainee spot is a reason to walk away.

What the contract usually covers, and the questions to ask before you sign, are in What Is a K-pop Trainee Contract?.

Train for auditions with Keens

Keens trains students aged 5+ on the same standard used @ Seoul. Two steps match the decision this guide keeps returning to.

Level Check is the assessment: a 0–10 level, dimension-specific feedback, and a practical recommendation on whether to audition, train first, or focus on one weakness. K-TOP is the structured training path from Keens Academy, beginner-friendly and tied to professional K-pop training standards, with 350+ lessons across dance, vocal, expression, and stage. Use the level to choose the work. Use the training to do it. Neither one is an agency audition, and neither one is a debut offer.

Guides in this series

• K-Pop Audition Requirements: Age, Skills, Visuals: The real screening standard: age, skill level, visuals, and Korean language.
• K-pop Audition Age Limit: When to Start: Why there is no single age limit, and when many applicants start auditioning.
• How to Know If You Are Good Enough for K-Pop Auditions: How to tell whether to submit now or train first.
• K-Pop Trainee Level Test: What Score Do You Need?: The Keens 0–10 level scale and what score is competitive at each age.
• K-Pop Audition Prep: What Agencies Actually Look For: The four first-read signals agencies check: skill, likability, energy, proportions.
• How to Prepare a K-pop Audition Tape: Camera, lighting, audio, framing, material, and a pre-submit checklist.
• Prepare for Your First K-Pop Audition in 30 Days: A week-by-week 30-day plan from level check to submission.
• How to Train at Home for a K-pop Audition: A home training routine you can turn into an audition tape.

Check My Level