Isn't the American industry (mostly Billboard) a bit too transparent with their discrimination against BTS??

army are hilarious...they swear off billboard and say they don't care anymore...yet every comeback go and complain about billboard charting.

They’ve been elitist wbk

Quote from tetetete

It's again taking them 3782327 years to update the bb200 and I'm left thinking if it's possible that they are actually sitting down and looking for ways to filter out Yoongi's streams /sales etc

(Surely not right?? These chart bodies do get properly audited from time to time right?? )

Believe it or not, btschartdata before leaving actually want to make some sort of daily challenge game on his website (kind of like his heardle game) that requires army to make new playlist and stream songs. But the permit to connect to spotify database got denied before it happened because they think it’s “stream manipulation”

If they can pay attention to big army accounts and flagged down their plan, they can find ways to dismiss certain number of stream/ sales and come up with reason later. Damn they don’t even have to make up excuse, bts antis can do mental gymnastics for them

Quote from tetetete

Ohh that was a different issue

I think he wanted to use a Spotify API for the game ,it's pretty common for companies to refuse API access if they are not sure about the use case because they fear someone could develop a rival platform

Hmm but the game use their database more like stationhead afaik, and his playlist generator also okayed and it’s pretty common extention in korean and japanese part of fandom. The difference is only daily nature and the timing because he tweeted it at the 2nd week of face and we both know what happened that time

Anywaay i probably read too much to the situation. I’ve said it before that US music industry problem is far deeper than bts not buying payola, it’s the grassroots existence of army to bts career. They don’t like that bts is basically irreplaceable for army, an extensive fandom who can find ways to support bts financially regardless of their hurdle. Even if bts left hybe and use their management, it’s not going to be enough

Quote from tetetete

I agree I think the fact that they are so successful based on a big fandom just ruffles a lot of feathers out there

But billboard specifically are supposed to be the only source of charts, they have to be neutral and fair, they can't act shady like award shows

The fact they overweight the role of radio airplay to their charts and have so much rules over digital sales means that they lean more to media and music executives opinion over general direct consumption. A chart works like that will never be neutral and fair

I think they are also that way because let’s face it, there is no single “mainstream” market where their charts truly matter anymore. Hip hop, pop, latin, and rock band have their own climate that won’t let billboard decide who is the trend or the superstar like they used to. In a way, making their chart looks more important than it actually is their game to keep being relevant

tetetete this twt thread basically answer your question, it is targeted and it is deliberate. Apparently 2020 was humiliating for them

#everyoneknows but not everyone admits it

and it's not only billboad but youtube, spotify etc too. The whole industry are scared of BTS' power so they're doing everything now to restrict it.

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ITSELF IS SCARED OF BTS

which is why they resort to their shady tactics to do this messed up shit

It's not just BTS. It's all Kpop. Broader speaking, it's all music that competes with the artists they want to see at the top, so it even includes some Americans that are competitive with that. They might grudgingly accept one song that comes up very occasionally, but an artist that stays competitive that is outside their control? They don't like.

Radio counts and they barely give any radio to Kpop songs, no matter how much fans request it.

And people can say: radio follows trends. No. New American artists sometimes get played until even non Kpop fans complain about being spoon fed their music. There was no demand for that music at all as nobody knew them, until radio started playing it that much and radio counts for BB charts.

I used to think radio followed trends, but even lower mid-tier Kpop groups have more of a starting demand than people that nobody actually knows. So, I don't trust them anymore. When I realized it, I made a conscious effort of listening less to American music and more to music from other countries (not just Korea).

Kpop massively competes against American music. I don't mean on the charts, because they can at least manipulate the charts with radio and changing rules.

I mean concert tickets, streaming, buying albums and merch. Young people who are spending their usually limited amount of money on Kpop groups, will not spend it or their attention on American artists.

In addition to this, American pop culture helps with soft power and that is also being competed with by Kpop and people getting interested in Korean culture instead.

In all this, BTS is probably the one they loathe the most as they are such a strong presence and competition for American artists (or some British, Canadians etc under American labels).

But other fandoms have also made efforts to get their music on radio and got nothing.