Is the way kpop markets physical albums wasteful?

Physical albums are wasteful period.

Yes 100%. Honestly they should just sell both photocards and fansign coupons separately but we all know companies aren't gonna want to do that because both things inflate sales

i don't think owning one physical CD with the photocard and the photobook from your faves is wasteful, they are really pretty mostly and i have some myself, its just bulk buying that is wasteful in my opinion.

Tbh this is a myth. Whether it’s one version or three or even 9 sales is not affected much. If a group can sell 1 million. They will.

Kpop fans buy albums for the sole reason of supporting their favs/records/etc and most albums remain unopened.

This has nothing to do with how the albums are marketed and instead depends on how the groups and kpop itself is marketed. Fans feel like they need to monetarily support their artists. This is a very powerful thing. And it’s not as simple as merch or the number of PCs. It’s so much more.

well if one were to look at specifically physical albums alone then yes one could say it is wasteful but the same rationale and logic can be said of many things that are wasteful such as plastic containers or once-use cutlery for example

there's far greater "threats" and dangers than mere kpop albums

Quote from MissBehave

We all know that album sales are bolstered by fans who are motivated by the merch/collectibles included. This isn't limited to a particular group. It's an industry wide thing. Do you think it's wasteful? Do you think there are any ways to address this issue? Should it be addressed?

https://www.allkpop.com/articl…taking-out-the-photocards

when you are that one kpop fan that buys the album for the cd............................................

And you are part of Gen Z.

Physical album is NOT wasteful

But including random photocard and buying tons of it just for the photocard is wasteful.

I would say so, especially with how much paper and plastic comes in the albums (the photobook takes up like 95% of the total weight). Buying in bulk (not counting group orders) is not only costly when it comes to shipping but in terms of how much raw material has to be used to create all those albums. I can understand simply trading for photocards without albums attached to them, but not buying dozens of albums in order to get on a video call or attend a fan sign. And even then, why the hell are you paying like 10-30 dollars for a piece of cardstock to be mailed to you?

Reselling is another good option, but those are usually albums bought in bulk that had the photocards removed.

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

I would say so, especially with how much paper and plastic comes in the albums (the photobook takes up like 95% of the total weight). Buying in bulk (not counting group orders) is not only costly when it comes to shipping but in terms of how much raw material has to be used to create all those albums. I can understand simply trading for photocards without albums attached to them, but not buying dozens of albums in order to get on a video call or attend a fan sign. And even then, why the hell are you paying like 10-30 dollars for a piece of cardstock to be mailed to you?

Reselling is another good option, but those are usually albums bought in bulk that had the photocards removed.

I personally think kpop companies should put photocards in the albums and sell them seperatedly. That way the photocard obsessed people would stop buying albums for the photocards only and people that buy albums for the cd, photobook, and photocard get satisfied.