Discussions Over K-pop Album Sales Arose After Min Hee-jin’s Remarks At Press Conference

During her urgent press conference on April 25th, CEO Min Hee-jin not only denied all accusations in her dispute with HYBE, but also highlighted issues within the K-pop music industry. Her remark, “I urge idol companies to refrain from producing excessive photocards in order to boost album sales,”grabbed the attention of K-pop enthusiasts.

Many K-pop fans showed their agreement with this statement, further proving that they too are exhausted from the excessive manipulation by idol agencies.

Choi Kwang-ho, secretary-general of the Korea Music Content Association, emphasized the negative consequences of the industrialization and fierce competition in the K-pop industry, stating that it is crucial to address these issues and work towards creating a healthier music marketing culture. He suggested that change should happen gradually.

K-pop Agencies’ Methods to Increase Album Sales

K-pop agencies include random photocards in idol albums to encourage fans to buy multiple albums in hopes of obtaining photocards featuring their favorite members. This is the primary reason why fans tend to only keep the photocards and discard the albums.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a new method called “pushing albums”emerged in the music industry. This involves album retailers working with agencies to secure large quantities of albums to be sold in the first week of release. These albums are then promoted through events such as fansigns. This method, also known as “advance shipments”or “MG (minimal guarantee)”, has been used by new album retailers to establish their presence and by agencies to achieve high first-week sales. It is often done secretly to gain an advantage in the competitive first-week sales market.

Min Hee-jin addressed at her press conference that she was familiar with those methods, as is everyone. However, she expressed concern about the negative impact it has on the market and the stock market. This not only places a burden on fans who want to purchase albums, but it also poses challenges for idols who are constantly expected to participate in fansigning events. She further questioned, “What is the reason for this cycle of fans buying albums and idols having to do fansigns again?”

Moreover, Min Hee-jin expressed her disapproval of HYBE’s strategy to promote recycling by substituting album parts with environmentally-friendly materials. She questioned, “Are they serious about using dissolvable paper?”and continued, “If paper can dissolve, I would prefer to produce fewer albums.”

K-pop fans’ complaints urge the need for improvement

In recent times, there has been a significant decline in first-week sales figures for certain idols, causing concerns about the potential end of the album explosion. Industry experts have also observed that the intense competition among K-pop albums has left fans feeling exhausted.

The Fair Trade Commission initiated an investigation into major agencies last year, citing photocards as a recurring issue. Recently, there has been increased interest in problems surrounding album sales, particularly after a CEO of an agency addressed the issue themselves.

Despite Min Hee-jin’s remarks, there were still those who responded with disapproval. According to a K-pop industry insider, smaller agencies without significant funding often rely on album sales to finance future productions. The use of albums and fan signing events as marketing strategies has played a crucial role in the success of the K-pop industry, and therefore, criticism from various perspectives may be excessive.

The original source is from daum website.