You have to spend 5 million won to have a 1-minute video call with an idol... A K-pop album twisted by commercialism
Event opportunities are given based on the number of album purchases,
encouraged to buy in bulk with the lure of album goods,
and after receiving entry tickets, they end up in a heap of trash.
Behind the 'sold volume of 100 million units' is a shadow of commercialism.
There are growing voices saying that the sales strategy of domestic music agencies that encourage people to buy the same album in large quantities using K-idols' rare photo cards and participation in fan meetings is excessive. Recently, even Ador CEO Min Hee-jin publicly criticized the company's headquarters, HYBE, for its sales strategies such as 'random photo cards'. Meanwhile, domestic album sales have grown rapidly and sales of entertainment companies have also surged, but there is also growing awareness that market distortion is becoming more serious due to 'commercial tactics using fan sentiment'.
According to Circle Chart on the 14th, Korean album sales last year were 115.77 million copies, a 50% increase compared to the previous year. The ratio of albums and music to the total sales of HYBE, Korea's No. 1 entertainment agency, is on a steep rise from 30% in 2021 to 44.5% last year. The proportion of album sales in entertainment company profits is increasing, driving overall sales.
Meanwhile, marketing plans to sell more and more expensive albums are becoming more and more elaborate. For example, the group Seventeen's best album '17 IS RIGHT HERE', released on the 29th of last month, contains two identical CDs , but is sold in six types with different gift items . Compared to the cheapest album, the ‘Weverse version’ (14,500 won), the price of the deluxe version (85,800 won) with various components is nearly six times higher. The songs included in the album are the same, but the types of random photo cards and goods are different for each version. Making people spend more for the ‘probability of drawing the desired card’. If you want to make the 'safe choice', which includes photo cards for all members rather than random cards, you have to buy the most expensive deluxe version.
It doesn't end here. Opportunities to see your favorite members up close, such as fan signing events, video calls, and showcases, are linked to the amount of album purchases. You are only given the opportunity to participate in fan signing events once per album, so you must buy a lot of albums to increase your chances of winning. Although it is an application form, in reality, people are lined up in the order of those who purchase the most albums, so it is called 'Fansa Cut' (fan signing event cut line). The industry consensus is that for popular idols, a ‘fans cut’ costs 3 to 4 million won, and for a top boy group, it costs over 5 million won. In order to have a one-on-one video call with your favorite idol for about 1 to 2 minutes, you have to buy about 200 to 300 copies of the same album. Ms. Kim (33), an office worker and NCT fan, said, “I hold fan signing events almost every day, but I think it’s too wasteful.”
As a result, there are situations where people buy a large number of albums and then throw them away, taking only the entry tickets. Earlier this month, a photo of HYBE group Seventeen's albums being dumped in a pile in a park near a department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan sparked controversy both at home and abroad. A strange phenomenon is also occurring: the album sales of a top Korean boy group in the first week of release are 1 million more copies than those of world star Taylor Swift. Experts point out that the degree of distortion in the Korean album market has increased accordingly.
Kim Yun-ha, a popular music critic, said, “The practice of disrupting the market by overselling albums and inflating sales by taking fans’ love hostage has not been eradicated.” “It is time for K-pop entertainment companies to think about it,” he said.
Reporter Choi Ji-seon aurinko@donga.com
