Are member versions of albums a good move? And does any member version album sell really well?

Quote from tetetete

ohh i did not know that i thought it be similar to magazine covers

like when wall street journal did individual covers of bts, the number of sales were visible for the first few days on the website so solo fbs started buying in bulk, like literally cartons upon cartons of magazines, just to "show their support"

It was never like that with the albums that had individual covers in the past. It's just the same product. Doing it otherwise (ie releasing them as different products) would be silly since it would harm the album/group's total sales.

The whole thing is really silly and unnecessary, you get the exact same content but with a solo cover and most of the time you can find the solo covers inside the album as part of the photobook anyway.

The only time I thought individual versions were a genius idea and understood their temptation was when SM released individual versions with entire photobooks dedicated to individual members in SNSD's I Got A Boy album in 2013, it wasn't just a cover but an entire photobook

Quote from chounim

But you have no way of knowing which version sold more since all of them have the same barcode and will count as one album all together.

I didn't know that since I never check comparisons. That makes it even less of an advantage to sell more. and people actually use that to discredit NCT's sales? lol

member versions probably sell better, but goddamn it I want a group version of Yes not just Tag!!!

Quote from Yumeku

I didn't know that since I never check comparisons. That makes it even less of an advantage to sell more. and people actually use that to discredit NCT's sales? lol

If the different versions counted separately, they'd also chart separately lol but they don't.

There's really no way of knowing how much each individual version sold unless the manufacturers revealed it, and they don't.

You can order whichever version you want online but not even the online shops reveal their individual versions' orders as far as I know.

Quote from chounim

If the different versions counted separately, they'd also chart separately lol but they don't.

There's really no way of knowing how much each individual version sold unless the manufacturers revealed it, and they don't.

You can order whichever version you want online but not even the online shops reveal their individual versions' orders as far as I know.

No but the fact they don't reveal it means fans won't compete over it hence akgaes can just buy their favs, not for competition but to collect and don't give a shit about buying more for records. So it disadvantages their sales compared to buying regular albums to get your favs photocards randomly. Sure more versions have advantages but they also have disadvantages because of the solo thing.

As an ahgase and nctzen, groups that released members versions, I don't like the idea much because 1. I have multiple biases and can't spend that much for each member and 2. Group versions are my favorite since I get to have something with the whole group included

And I also can say it isn't really a big factor when it comes to sales. Got7 released 7 individual covers for their last album in JYP, yet it didn't sell as well as the previous one (with 5 group versions). Members like Jackson and bambam have massive fanbases internationally yet that didn't really move the numbers. It could because ahgases aren't solo stans or because it was during a bad time (group leaving the company) but it also proves how individual versions aren't really that important for physical records.