Is pre-ordering albums foolish? (ESSAY WARNING)

I think It's been like 13 years or more since the last I bought an album for the music

I don't even have a CD player, but I buy my faves' albums everytime they comeback

the difference between the two products is that one requires the disk to play a game by installing it (or I guess downloading it)

but for music there are often other (superior???) sources to play the music as oppose to the mere CD

thus for a lot of people the purpose of an album is for the added goodies that come along with the album ie. photocards and to support their fav group

now I've never heard of someone in the gaming community saying they are support their fav gaming corporation by buying the physical copy of a game...

Quote from ThePhantomThief

So like... I come from a gaming background. For many years, the big thing in gaming was to pre-order games. You wanted to make sure you had a copy of the game on Day 1 and be the first playing it. Sometimes you get bonus content and cool stuff.

Shops like Game Stop (and EB Games in my country) still try and push people to pre-order games.

BUT in recent years, pre-ordering has dropped out of favor a lot. Really bad or disappointing game launches like Cyberpunk 2077, or unfinished games on release day, have really soured gamers away from pre-ordering. Now its common to wait at least a few days before getting a game and there is usually no chance of a game selling out, even physical.

So... I was thinking right? Is pre-ordering kpop albums, tracks and music unseen, also a bit foolish? What if the music is bad? What if you hate it? Aespa had huge, record breaking pre-orders for girls, but honestly reaction to the track and album has been a bit lukewarm by comparison. Lisa had very high pre-orders and LALISA did disappoint many. Itzy... oh Itzy (yeah I've pre-ordered Checkmate, ngl). They had really high pre-orders for week 1 of Checkmate. Like highest for Itzy, maybe even highest for Jyp GG, although theres nothing official. Then the title track preview dropped and fans were ummmm.... lets say confused at the very least. Release day could be very interesting.

Would it have been better to wait for release day to see what the album is like before ordering like gamers are increasingly doing these days, or is it still better to pre-order and throw money at a group, even if they disappoint you on release?

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There is a psychology in us humans, that if we invest so much into something, then no matter what, you will never admit you are disappointed.

Is kind of people that fall for a scam or a cult, even when everyone around them tells them it is a scam or a cult, the people that fell for it refuse to admit it, many times they double down on it.

I bet is a bit similar with superfans and bad songs/ bad albums.

We all do it, I am sure some of my faves have put out shitty songs, but I force my self to love them. lol.

Pre-orders probably work the same, for those that order them and are invested in the idea of helping their faves with pre-orders, most will never admit publicly that it was a mistake doing so.

I wait until the album preview at least...even though I know I will 99.99% love it

I mean...your question would be legit and a great question if its 20 years ago. No one buy album for the music. Cuz its not 2001 where you play the CD to hear the music. Its streaming ERA bay bay. Not a good question.

As a gamer myself, I only pre-order games from trusted game developers and series. Agreed that now a days you have to really consider the ‘hype’ vs your ‘tastes.

Same with the music. I make a decision on if the artist has ever disappointed me with their music. If I have any doubts, I just wait. There’s only ever been a handful of games and musicians that I pre-order blind.

I see ppl saying they don’t know anyone that preorders games or buys physical games anymore. In the gaming community, many are collectors. I just saw a post on Reddit of a fan that went to collect all the Final Fantasy games ever release. It’s def still a thing.

You buy albums for the pretty pictures.

Well my ults pretty much never disappoint me so there's that.

But I have never preordered an album, though I would like to since you get the albums really early. The problems are the prices, very high, but they go down as time passes but I have to wait. If money wasn't a problem, I would def consider preordering.

If I had money to throw away I would pre order all Itzy releases for life lmao but as I am a poor bish that doesn't work. I did pre order one CIL (Yeji) and after the first arrived/seeing unboxing from other Midzy, I had to order my Chaery ver

all other releases I have are from before I came into the fandom