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

For exo I think it's a good strategy. Even nct

I hate them most of the time It works great for smaller groups because every shawol collector I know gets member versions but for bigger groups like Seventeen and NCT only the craziest get all versions and everyone else just gets the biases or random

it's been known to rally the solo fanbases who'll buy as much as possible so their fave doesn't look like a flop

like I know BTS fanbases even had competition who could buy the most just the regular versions, so everyone would know which member was the most ~popular, imagine what they'd do to get their bias as the top-seller.

Different versions have never been considered that evil master plan to sell better until NCT started selling millions. Obviously it could help but it also could worsen it, because some akgaes would be content to buy only one ver they're sure of their fav's covering, instead of buying 4 vers of regular albums expecting their fav PC to show up in one of them.

anyway to answer op. Maybe compare to the sales of magazine covers if a group has some.

BTS have only done individual magazine covers and this is the result

I don't think we'll ever get member only version albums from BTS because of BTS not Hybe.

But I can always be wrong.

Quote from gerrard174

Im really surprised at that gap ... when I was following BTS in their debut days, the gap wasnt that obvious but now, jungkok is almost 10x of j-hope

I don't think the gap is that huge, but the maknae line have a much more dedicated fanbase who'll buy stuff (and bulk buy it for the aforementioned reasons). It's the same with the fancams, there'd be a gap naturally but the reason the gaps look so huge is because ML fans buy ads and views. The likes gap is never as bad.

I don't think they make as much difference as many claim.

For example back in 2011, Super Junior released the first album with individual covers and it became their best selling album. The next year, their outsold it with an album that didn't have individual covers. In fact even their latest album from last year outsold Mr Simple which was their only album with individual covers. It goes to show that the individual covers simply coincided with an increase in the group's fandom, momentarily they gave a false impression that they were the reason behind their increase in sales but when you look at the bigger picture now, it's obvious that it was just a coincidence.

Fans who want to bulk buy or maximise their chances at getting into fansigns or getting their bias' pc will buy multiple copies regardless of whether there are individual covers or not.

For me it depends. While it may not be a good idea for K-pop albums to have member versions I feel like it's something the J-pop industry should be proud of bc member versions of J-pop albums can be a way to like commemorate a member's graduation (like when one of Morning Musume's 2011 singles had a special member version due to Takahashi Ai graduating from the group later that year) so... 😏

Quote from gerrard174

Do u think Sm will do for aespa in future? Cause SM is known to release solo cover.. the gap of sales gonna be AWKWARD 🙈🙈

I hope not but maybe. They still need to strengthen their fanbase IMO. Karina and Winter are very popular individually and Ningning is close. I am sure Giselle would get her own fanbase with time. Just hope they don't do the comparisons in sales so soon.

It doesn't necessarily increase sales. It depends on various factors.

Wait... There is a member version of albums? Such thing exist?

I honestly don’t like anything that gives solo stans an ego booster in the fandom.

Quote from tetetete

it seems to be a good move for increasing sales since solo stans can make it an ego battle

but i'm not sure if its a good idea in terms of branding of the group

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.