Why do a lot of groups have weak b-side streams on Spotify?

I guess most casual listeners don't have the drive to listen to the whole album?

That's why I like it when most of the songs are promoted or pre-released then included in the EP/album/repackage; getting the fair chance to be heard and capture avid listeners. Not every title track or promoted B-side will be a casual's cup of tea.

Not Enhypen or stray kids tho!

I will say that TT have MVs which are hyped over and discussed and talked about so even a casual listener can enjoy it and give their 2 cents...

B-sides though are usually the realm of that group's fandoms...and a casual listener wouldn't bother to check out that B-side since they weren't into that group to begin with

Personally I tend to check out most group's comebacks even if I'm not very familiar with that group but it's always just the TT and very rarely will I go for their bsides unless someone specifically brings it to my attention or something

Casual listeners don't listen to bsides except they are a fan

Most people only listen to promoted tracks because they find it strenuous to go through albums to find what they might like.

Streaming parties are mostly done for the title tracks by fans

Let's say I am watching Youtube and this random video MV or music show performance popus up, I like the song so i added it to my rotation playlist = the song getting more streams. Most people won't bother to check out the album's other songs

Maybe their b-sides are not that catchy so even the fans don’t listen as much?

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

That raises another question that's more rhetorical, but was in the back of my mind: why are the fandoms not engaging with the whole album on a regular basis?

hmmm...well I would say that lots of kpop fans like a group for different reasons music might not be the top and sole reason for stanning a group (and to me that's fine)...it could be the visuals or MVs or dance or interactions between members or whatever...

I'm not saying that people stan a group but don't like their music but rather that music might not be the top reason for stanning that group and hence maybe those b-sides fall by the wayside

Lack of dedicated fans to check out their whole material, I guess.

I mean bsides are always way less streamed than titles even for western acts. Kpop already have bad streams on titles so from where will they get good streams on bsides?

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

That's a fresh perspective, I haven't heard this expressed.

I know. One great example is YG.

For example, we have BLACKPINK's The Album and BIGBANG's MADE album. All songs from these albums will really do well regardless. But them promoting multiple songs and be included in the album took it up a notch.

This also happened to TREASURE's debut with multiple singles and later on still included in a release labeled as "1st Full Album." We also have Jeon Somi's XOXO album.

At the end of the day, I got to enjoy and dive into all the songs from these albums.

Many will probably say YG's just recycling, but for me it comes off not letting songs be wasted and paid dust.

Unlike western artists, they usually don't promote singles before they release an album or mini album. I've seen Chungha and Blackpink promote singles (pre-release) before and those got attention as bsides when the album came out. When kpop groups have a comeback they mostly promote the title track and the bsides not so much (unless they use 1 or 2 bsides on music shows for like a week or something). Most of the hype is on the tt so the bsides don't get much attention.

maybe companies only promoted title tracks and radio's too play TT only so it will give more audience to listen to it compared to b dides

The companies need to promote the besides more

Like lucid dream from aespas mini is absolutely fantastic & it's doing well but imagine it was promoted?

I agree with most takes here but I'm surprised no one said this because I think k-pop groups releasing new albums every few months is definitely one of the biggest reasons why this happens.

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

"Filler" is indeed a problem I've had before when it seems like songs are shoehorned in on an album when they don't fit sonically or thematically to fit the concept.

This is also one of the big reasons why it happens. K-pop main singles are given so much importance than other album songs might turn out to be filler songs which do not follow the suit of the album sonically or conceptually. This leads to people even fans not listening to albums but some of the songs from the album here and there. With Spotify this is made easier to do so. Another perspective is that k-pop main singles are just not good enough. People check out main singles because of the name but the single doesn't make them eager enough to check out the other songs on the album.

Btw what do you think is good ratio for main single to album songs? 10:1? 8:1?

Is it the same on Korean streaming platforms ?

Because it would make sense for groups that don't have a big fanbases in the West to not have high numbers on their bsides, since the GP, and casual listeners won't really bother with b-sides.

Hmm, can I be honest? I also think that, like some have posted on here, kpop fans may not really have music as a priority with stanning. And with multis stanning alot of groups, they probably will have a hard time streaming albums of all their faves/groups. And we have also seen kpop stans do stockholm syndrome for their faves' title tracks. I doubt they'd put much effort for the filler/bsides.

I also think these companies put alot of filler/disconnected songs in albums thus fans don't really talk much about them -from what I experienced in my previous fandom.

That's why I find it cool to find certain groups (personally I only have one) whose entire discography is treasured and much discussed by the fandom.

Aside from organised streaming parties, casual listeners are really what makes the difference in streaming numbers, and casual listeners are typically more inclined to stream single and at the very most promoted bsides.

I don't have any knowledge about the actual data but I can bet that groups with less reliance on casual listeners (and by consequence more reliance on fandom) have more balanced bside streams (in comparison to their singles).

Wow that thread made me really proud of how high are the streams of my faves' bsides (sometimes even higher than the title tracks LMAOO)

Not promoted! Then most Kpop groups comeback 2 to 3 times a year, churning out albums like candy! Then fans move to the new album, focusing on the title track, the b sides left behind and the cycle continues...

Tbh it's kinda obvious why:

1. the main and most important reason is obviously promotion: title gets tons of promotion, performances, challenges, getting added to playlists (radio play can be also added to the list) so not only fandom which is already aware of release but other people too can notice it and give it a listen. Promotion is always a key. But those people also mostly don't give af about what is not promoted to their face or don't give af when what is promoted is okey enough to give it a listen and maybe add it to playlist but not good enough to check out other songs or might be good enough to check other songs but average people mostly still don't go through the whole album, usually through just first half, especially when it's full one with a lot of songs (the exception is b-side which went viral)

2. fandom actually also can care only about title and maybe some promoted b-sides (different reasons too: some don't stand the group for music so don't really give af about it, some are multifandom so there are probably just not enough time for every song, also music itself cause companies do put efforts to their titles but mostly don't really care about unpromoted songs and just do filler songs, etc), dedicated fans will listen to all (or majority) songs so when you see decent number of streams for b-sides it just means that this group's fandom has decent number of dedicated fans while the group also still will have a situation with promoted songs I described above + mayhaps song which got viral.

Groups which have too much casual stans will not have good streams for b-sides like personally unless it’s my favs I don’t stream other b-sides I’m too lazy.

Plus companies promote too much the TT Itzy b-sides streams grew as soon they started to promote them more.

Speaking for myself, I was never an album person. For a long time, I only listened to promoted singles and the This Is X playlist.

If I like multiple title tracks/singles from the same album, or I REALLY like one title track, then I'll check out the whole album. Otherwise I will not. That's a high hurdle to cross for the artist, so if many people are like me it's not surprising that b-sides get way fewer streams.

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

One thing I'm noticing is that outside of the top groups, most do not have "good" streams on b-sides.

Are you saying that smaller artists have a lower b-side/single stream ratio? Do you have rough numbers?

Because KPOP is a numbers game. If you’re hot, it’s about keeping the fire going. The idol industry isn’t necessarily about the music as much as it is about the fan experience and content. Companies aren’t necessarily interested in the b-sides as much as it is about getting physical sales & fans aren’t going to care if the company doesn’t push it.

BTS/BP do well because hardcore fans & casual interest, and HYBE and YGE have always pushed b-sides as extra promotion. A full album will come with multiple promotional songs, so that carries over into the b-sides. JYP doesn’t really care about b-sides which why even when TWICE was the top act in Korea, the public or fans didn’t really care. SM is a bit better tho. They’ll promote their b-sides which is why a couple will do good but they won’t actively go out their way. It really depends on what the company and artist place emphasis on.

I think people go to easy in the "the bsides is for fandom" excuse, honestly, bsides could have attention for the gp if the kpop stigma wasn't around still, when you notice in western pop, most third or post album release single are chosen because a little part of the public has clicked with the song. example Ariana with POV, Olivia with Traitor, Taylor with Exile, Dua with IDGAF, basically this doesn't happen with kpop unless the groups actually promote the songs, the closest example I've seen is Lisa with Money, the virality of the song made Interscope to sent it to radios