[BTS CONTENT] During renegotiations, BTS should have more say on their merchandise pricing and distribution

  • The contract renewal of 2018 was still pre-Dynamite/mega soft power BTS. So their leverage back then isn't as good as it is now. The reason I'm saying this hopefully optimistic take is that on SEVERAL occasions, we've seen members voice their frustration with the pricing of their merch and albums. Jin in particular has been voicing out these concerns for the last two years. Going into 2024-2026, BTS, for their stature, and the billions of dollars they bring to Hybe and South Korea, should no longer be in a position where Hybe has the upper hand. They made this monster of a company and there should be no way they can't control how much their merch/albums should cost and how their merch/album should be distributed.


    What's your opinion, AKP ARMY?

  • I don't think BTS have the ground knowledge of distribution to make any changes there

    At best, they can reduce the cut they get from the merch sales which tbh why would they do that...I don't really expect them to do that

    We don't know what BTS knows. We're not them. And I never mentioned reducing their cut from merch?? I said that Jin for example, has expressed that certain merch has been too expensive and even wanted to reduce the price of his single album price point. They should have more say in how much their content cost and how it's distributed instead of letting Hybe experiment on them like test dummies.

  • We don't know what BTS knows. We're not them. And I never mentioned reducing their cut from merch?? I said that Jin for example, has expressed that certain merch has been too expensive and even wanted to reduce the price of his single album price point. They should have more say in how much their content cost and how it's distributed instead of letting Hybe experiment on them like test dummies.

    I was thinking the profit of each album/merch item must be selling price minus the actual cost of raw materials and there is a specific % share distribution between BTS and hybe on the profit and I don't think hybe would be ok with comprising with its % share

    But I think u mean setting a blanket upper limit on the total selling price of the product which could be possible


    Tldr - I get your point

  • We don't know what BTS knows. We're not them. And I never mentioned reducing their cut from merch?? I said that Jin for example, has expressed that certain merch has been too expensive and even wanted to reduce the price of his single album price point. They should have more say in how much their content cost and how it's distributed instead of letting Hybe experiment on them like test dummies.

    but this is exactly the point, no? the fact of the matter is, unless bts is involved in picking where big hit/hybe outsources the production of their products, there is no way for them to control the price outside of simply telling the company they want the prices as low as possible (like jin has) or reducing their own cut of the profit. if bh's production is "ethically sourced" in any way, yeah, things are not going to be dirt cheap and bh will never operate at 0 profit for merch. the whole point of being signed to a label is for them to take care of everything. i wouldn't expect bts to actually care much beyond wanting their merch to be more accessible to more armys.

  • Moderator

    Moved the thread from forum KPOP to forum KPOP.

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