Do you think kpop album sales are 100% legit nowadays?

i think Parasocial bonds are just getting stronger these days with young people constantly being told to ignore others and work on themselves

Everyone is afraid to socialize and the demand for parasocial relationships is growing

Just look at how much of twitch is dominated by livestreamers who essentially do nothing but talk friendly and look pretty and get sent so much money from lonely people

Yes.

They are manipulated in a "legit" way so to speak. But who knows about gaon, it wouldnt be the first time an "official" org was corrupt. The issues regarding bts hiatus recently showed in korea they care a lot about keeping this image of kpop's constant growth, mainly attributed to sales

Depends what you mean by legit.

Is bulk buying legit? Because that's been going on for years and years and current day sellers like BTS, BP, Seventeen etc are all subject to that in some form.

Is making multiple versions of the same album legit? It's obviously a marketing ploy to in increase sales and of course kpop fans regularly buy them.

Is bundling in extras legit like photo cards, concert tickets etc? All an is album is a CD so there's no need for any extra stuff.

Or a core issue: you can buy albums digitally or stream any where why time, why buy a physical copy on a dated format that is hardly in use anymore? If you take the CD out your paying a lot for just photos. An album in that case would be nothing than just to milk fans and the real indication of popularity world be digitals.

If your asking do i think companies are buying thousands of their own albums than no lmao. But are they doing countless things to inflate their numbers sure all companies do. Bundles, digi packs, cheaper albums, multiple versions, fan signs, and ect all done to make people buy multiple of the same album to increase sales.

I think they are. Hanteo sales have also increased. Unless you think both are conspiring together. Or that companies may be using their own stores to fake sales. All big 4 companies have their own: Weverse Shop, SM Town & Store, YG Select and JYP Shop. But it should raise some suspicion if too many sales come from there.

They are legit in the sense real people are paying for them, regardless of their price

They aren't as legit in the sense there isn't an actual product being delivered, because fandoms are abusing of nonshipping back strategies

Quote from Icaro_Ribeiro

They are legit in the sense real people are paying for them, regardless of their price

They aren't as legit in the sense there isn't an actual product being delivered, because fandoms are abusing of nonshipping back strategies

What is a nonshipping back strategy if you care to explain?

Quote from ItsMilly43

Have kpop album sales ever been 100% legit?

Legit or 'organic'?

Quote from keyboardwarrior7

What is a nonshipping back strategy if you care to explain?

Like everyone pays $1 or $2 or how much ever so that a big fanbase can buy the albums but they won’t actually receive the album individually. It’s just to boost sales.

A lot of these albums end up in the trash or discarded.

Quote from ISaidISaid

Like everyone pays $1 or $2 or how much ever so that a big fanbase can buy the albums but they won’t actually receive the album individually. It’s just to boost sales.

A lot of these albums end up in the trash or discarded.

Oh yeah, I've seen that happen in my fandom. I didn't know people didn't actually get the albums though.

Quote from keyboardwarrior7

Oh yeah, I've seen that happen in my fandom. I didn't know people didn't actually get the albums though.

They get donated to institutions that don't want them

Quote from keyboardwarrior7

What is a nonshipping back strategy if you care to explain?

Fandoms make a deal with stores to make bulk purchases that won't be delivered. For international fans the costs of shipping can often be three hto four times the price of the album if you are importing, so instead of buying 1 album for 10 USD and saying 30 USD for shipping you ask a retailer to buy 4 copies instead and none of those copies are delivered

This is the reason behind the sudden spike of Chinese bulk buying numbers. The Chinese bars are no longer truly buying albums, but instead making fundraising projects to make bulk orders that aren't be delivered and will, instead, be moved from a storehouse to a landfill

In the VERY old days an album sale was usually an individual person buying that Album to listen to it. If you think of it that term absolutely not. Some people by 5, 10+ albums. That skews everything as they aren't buying the album but the photocards or "bragging" rights. Today's 100K albums sold is to maybe 30K people. So yes it's a legit sale but it may not really relate to how big their fandom is just how rich and wacko they are. Heck in Japan they have evidence of people buying 100s of Albums just so they can get a longer period of time holding their "favs" hand. Thankfully it isn't that bad in Korea yet.

if someone is buying that album then it's legit doesn't matter how maybe copies - one copy, 100 copies

if the issue is whether each album sale should be counted the same as another well that's a separate question apart of legitimacy