Does relaying on physical sales affects the Kpop global expansion goal?

    Yes it does.


    Why? Very simple, on global charts you basically will NEVER have longevity with solely physical sales nowadays, not even the biggest fandoms are able to keep their faves for so long with physicals, it is impossible.


    We are in the streaming era like it or not. Even in Japan (the second biggest music market) that have such a big physical sales market in their Hot 100 charts we have songs with physical release that reach top 10 and the follow week either drop 10-20 spots or just free fall if they don’t have enough streams and digital sales, we have many examples of that and oh surprise! It’s mostly the ones with big fandoms including kpop Japanese singles.


    Just to take a look at Billboard 200, the albums in the top 10 are basically staying that high thanks to SEAs (Stream Equivalent Album). Every single time I see a kpop group debut more than 75% (sometimes even 90% it is that bad) of their total units are from physical sales having poor SEA and TEA (Track Equivalent Album) EVERY SINGLE TIME.


    Kpop labels need a reality check because they really only seem to care about fans buying and buying albums and if they want 4th gen or whatever to take over specially US with physical sales dying and streaming taking over is not going to happen.



    I think alot of fans forget, the companies main goal is to make money. Artist in the west make alot of their money from touring even if they do well digitally.


    Digital/ streaming success is nice, but if it doesnt lead to more money (commercials/sales) than its useless.


    Physical sales bring more money in.

    Quote from hottestg

    I think alot of fans forget, the companies main goal is to make money. Artist in the west make alot of their money from touring even if they do well digitally.


    Digital/ streaming success is nice, but if it doesnt lead to more money (commercials/sales) than its useless.


    Physical sales bring more money in.

    Believe I know damn well kpop labels main goal is money but I’m speaking base on exactly what they keep talking: taking over globally.


    How do they expect to reach that solely with physical sales? It doesn’t makes sense.

    Quote from azhra-0110

    I mean it is not about them "relying" on them, the audience willing to stream them is just not there, plain and simple. Kpop is not really taking over the world aside from a couple groups, let's be honest

    The last part you just said is something many don’t understand or even speak about 😬

    K-pop groups don't have a as big of a listener base, but they make a lot more money per listener. They found the golden formula. You need 1500 streams to be equivalent to an album sale. There isn't a lot of people out there doing 1500 streams on a single album.

    Quote from leavessick

    The last part you just said is something many don’t understand or even speak about 😬

    It is evident for anyone with average IQ, other than bts & bp nobody is getting what you could call relevant streams in the west. The rest of kpop is more niche than the most niche western artists. It doesn't look likely for other groups to chart say, in the hot100 unless they use discounted remix tactics or some heavy payola

    Quote from leavessick

    Believe I know damn well kpop labels main goal is money but I’m speaking base on exactly what they keep talking: taking over globally.


    How do they expect to reach that solely with physical sales? It doesn’t makes sense.

    For Kpop to truly take over globally and not rely on physical sales , their music must be able to stay up on its own. They would need to make music that doesnt just cater to kpop fans. Meaning making hit records in a traditional sense. Which is hard even for western artists. It wold also mean more focus on having a unique flavor.

    It's not a matter of doing well digitally. To be honest kpop companies can care less about that. All kpop companies care about is touring. There are plenty of artists in america that do well digitally but are just a tread and will die down with time. Why do you think companies want an army so bad, it is because they want people to go to their artist's concerts. BTS didn't do the best digitally (until dynamite) (note), and aren't as well known as other american artists who are on the radio a lot, but they are still called one of the biggest acts for a reason. Their ability to sell out stadiums. Global expansion has nothing to do with physicals vs digitals. It's more of the audience a group can bring. Because if you have a fanbase that can bring money, media will pay attention to you.


    Note: When I say they did do the best digitally I meant they couldn't compete against big american artists until dynamite. Not that they weren't doing well


    Edit: note to avoid confusion.

    If I say anything incorrect please correct me and I will edit my comment accordingly. I'm also very sarcastic so please don't take anything I say to heart.

    Edited once, last by JennyHoliday ().

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from JennyHoliday

    It's not a matter of doing well digitally. To be honest kpop companies can care less about that. All kpop companies care about is touring. There are plenty of artists in america that do well digitally but are just a tread and will die down with time. Why do you think companies want an army so bad, it is because they want people to go to their artist's concerts. BTS don't do the best digitally (until dynamite), and aren't as well known as other american artists who are on the radio a lot, but they are still called one of the biggest acts for a reason. Their ability to sell out stadiums. Global expansion has nothing to do with physicals vs digitals. It's more of the audience a group can bring. Because if you have a fanbase that can bring money, media will pay attention to you.

    BTS have monster streams, so saying they don't do well digitally is absurd.

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    The last 2 years have propelled them to crazy heights. Dynamite was the most streamed song on Apple Music this year.

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    This is Dynamite on Global 200


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    They are only the 4th act in history to cross 8bn streams in a calendar year apart from Drake, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny and doing it with the least songs released in that year.



    They have almost always been in the top 5 most streamed artists on Spotify this year daily. Look at their Spotify and Youtube streams, even this is well aligned and balanced.


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    BTS are about to enter top 10 most streamed artists on Spotify by the time of their next comeback. They are already top 10 on youtube.


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    BTS is an anomaly as they have digitals, physicals and touring numbers. This thread and OP is not applicable to them.

    Edited once, last by paradis ().

    I did say until dynamite in my post. After dynamite there digitals were amazing. I think my wording was a bit bad. I meant they couldn't compete with top western artists digitally. I didn't mean they didn't do well. I'll work out a different way to say it and edit my comment.

    If I say anything incorrect please correct me and I will edit my comment accordingly. I'm also very sarcastic so please don't take anything I say to heart.

    Kpop is not expanding as was promised after BTS.

    Reality is, There aren't actually a lot of kpop fans to begin with. They are just too loud .

    Physicals obviously don't measure size of fandom but only fandom dedication.

    Streams dont match cuz the music sucks and no one (not even the fans in some cases) are willing to stream it .

    Ofc this hurts the credibility of those marketting kpop as the next emerging music industry.

    Is this thread inspired by the news of NCT collective sales for the year reaching 10m+?

    :pepelove2:


    I don’t know why are you all taking this so seriously. The fans are happy with these songs and this type of content more, the artists are happy and the companies are more than happy with that money rather than digital hits for already established groups. Why do they have to change that (possibly ruining what they have)?

                                                   さぁ賭け狂いましょう


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    Physical makes more many than streaming but you can make a shit of with streaming alone it’s just than most kpop groups don’t have the streams to match with western groups.


    Even with a big hit in the west you’re settle for life.


    It sending me when some groups can sold million of albums and their streams don’t match and I’m sure kpop stans don’t even listen with cd anymore.


    Kpop is known but nobody is willing to streams it’s a niche

    Quote from Yumeku

    Is this thread inspired by the news of NCT collective sales for the year reaching 10m+?

    :pepelove2:


    I don’t know why are you all taking this so seriously. The fans are happy with these songs and this type of content more, the artists are happy and the companies are more than happy with that money rather than digital hits for already established groups. Why do they have to change that (possibly ruining what they have)?

    My post is literally about the whole kpop industry. NCT ain’t the only one selling well and having low streams and digital sales.

    Quote from a_song_calling_f

    Kpop is not expanding as was promised after BTS.

    Reality is, There aren't actually a lot of kpop fans to begin with. They are just too loud .

    Physicals obviously don't measure size of fandom but only fandom dedication.

    Streams dont match cuz the music sucks and no one (not even the fans in some cases) are willing to stream it .

    Ofc this hurts the credibility of those marketting kpop as the next emerging music industry.

    i agree, the reality hurt, but it is what it is

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