SEVENTEEN’s Fandom Criticized For Discarding Their Albums On The Streets Of Japan: A Common KPOP Problem

On April 29, SEVENTEEN made a highly anticipated comeback with their album “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” and released the MV for their title track “Maestro.” The group’s strong album sales were evident as “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” sold 2 million copies on its first day of release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThI0pBAbFnk

Despite the recent controversy surrounding SEVENTEEN’s “17 Is Right Here”album, a series of photos have surfaced showing the albums piled up and discarded on the streets of Japan. This has sparked fierce criticism from the fandom, particularly in the Parco Shibuya area where numerous album boxes were found with the message “Please feel free to use them.”This has caused displeasure among netizens as most of the albums were unboxed and missing items such as photo cards, while the boxes, CDs, and even photo books were carelessly thrown away.

One of the major concerns is the excessive waste being released into the environment, particularly from the disposal of CDs and album boxes which are difficult to recycle. This issue has sparked criticism from Japanese netizens towards SEVENTEEN’s fandom. It has been observed that some fans only purchase albums for the random cards and discard the rest, leading to further pollution. Moreover, this irresponsible act also reflects poorly on the image of the idols, which is unacceptable to fellow fans.

Despite some claims defending CARATs, it has been brought to attention that the mentioned albums were not discarded by fans, but rather by the sellers who purchased them in bulk. These sellers removed the included cards and offline codes to sell separately for personal gain. Additionally, some album dealers gather orders from overseas and choosing to keep the original album packaging would result in higher shipping expenses.

Maybe one day it will be like this https://t.co/HWoSZCAJor pic.twitter.com/9E6gRWr1hD

— 𝑅 (@kyomo94T123) May 1, 2024

Regardless of the reason, discarding albums should be condemned. This issue extends beyond just SEVENTEEN and has become a prevalent problem in the Kpop industry. With the increasing global impact of Kpop, there has been a rise in the phenomenon of “album sale inflation”. As a result, music groups are consistently achieving million-copy sales and fans are putting in their efforts to purchase albums to boost their idols’ achievements with each comeback.

🤗AFTER🤗 https://t.co/30wTXIWxzR pic.twitter.com/YmJartTL5Y

— Ma (@jah_rk32) May 1, 2024

Despite efforts by many companies to use recyclable materials for album production, groups with devoted fan bases like BTS, BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, TWICE, Stray Kids, and NCT continue to contribute to the issue of album waste. The more purchasing power these groups have, the greater the amount of waste released into the environment. Despite the use of recyclable materials, the music industry’s negative impact on the environment persists due to the sale-pushing tactic of releasing multiple special versions and offering fansign tickets to those who purchase a large number of albums during idol comebacks. This only exacerbates the problem.