I'm Your Biggest Fan part 2
While the Kpop Demon Hunters movie talks a great deal about the importance of fans, what the fans actually do might not be familiar to those who aren't into k-pop so here's a list of typical fan activities:
Buying an album is a pretty standard normal thing, however in k-pop, purchasing 1 album is usually not enough for most fans. Fans can buy up to 5-20 copies of the same album but while it might sound nonsensical for some, there are actually several reasons :
[A] First Week Sales — the most important part of a comeback is the first week sales because sales are often the thing the group's agency is looking for because comebacks are expensive [the music production, MV and teaser production, merchandise production, promotions, renting or ordering custom-made special stage outfits for live performances, labor, etc.]. If sales are incredibly high, it tells the agency that the group is worth continuing their investment in and with more investment means more marketing, more opportunities, and more care.
First week sales are also some of the biggest contributors of points into the likeliness of a group's chances of winning music awards along with digital streaming, broadcasting points and live votes (though the weight of points physical sales give depends on the music show so for weekly music show like Music Bank, it matters a lot more than say Inkigayo)
[Note: This is just to give an example on the mechanics of weekly music award show wins like M Countdown, Show Music Core, Inkigayo, etc. Of course I had to use one of Red Velvet's considering I am using a lyric of Irene's "Biggest Fan" as the title of these posts]
[B] Photocards — Anyone who has bought a k-pop demon hunter soundtrack is familiar with the randomized photocard that came with purchasing an album, this is true to what purchasing a music release is like in k-pop. However, it's more often for albums to not only come with 1 photocard of each member, but rather several photocards of each of the members in different unique outfits and poses (usually 2-5 photocards for each members + 1-2 special photocards for pre-orders) — hence the bulk buying. Which is easy for fans of smaller groups like Huntr/x and the Saja Boys who only has 3 members and 5 members respectively, not so much for bigger kpop groups like Seventeen which consists of 13 members or Twice which consists of 9 members (don't ask me how much I spent on getting Mina's photocards over the years, I don't want to talk about it)
As for what fans do with the photocards they didn't particularly want or duplicates, they either trade them or resell them to other fans who do want it.
[C] The Actual Lottery — While the photocard is the most well-known gacha item of the K-pop world, there is an even bigger more prize from buying an album: Raffle Tickets
Whenever a fan purchase an album — usually from a very specific retailer the agency has partnered with —, that purchase counts as an entry to the raffle, then the retailer randomly pick (or have a computer randomly pick) the winners of the tickets. These tickets allow fans to personally interact with their idols by either a one-on-one video call, one-on-one personal meeting with their idol(s) (managers and staff still present in the room of course) and fansign events where fans can get their albums and posters signed by their idols and have a chat with them
So you remember the fan meeting? The fewer amount of fans present here compared to the concert has nothing to do with Huntr/x losing fans or just being busy with work or school (this is probably what is the case for some fans), it's most likely these were just the ones who were lucky enough to get a raffle ticket with their purchase
If the first week sales are very important, digital streaming is equally important in keeping songs up in the daily charts of Korean streaming platforms like MelOn, Genie, FLO and Bugs (Spotify too but it's mostly international fans on there) which also contribute a huge percentage of points (40%-55% depending on the music show) on a group's likeliness of winning weekly music shows like Mnet's M Countdown, KBS' Music Bank, SBS' Inkigayo and SBS M's The Show, and MBC's Show! Music Core and MBC M's Show Champion, alongside physical sales, broadcasting points, and live votes. It's why it's a full co-ordinated effort for fans to maximize views and streams of the comeback (example: Me putting on Mamamoo's 4 Flowers on loop on my phone, my laptop, my TV)
Digital streams also feed directly into the Gaon Chart (now known as the Circle Chart, but some people still call it Gaon out of habit) which is like the Billboards of Korea — minus radio play — and is a massive factor in determining whether a group's has a shot at winning the coveted grand prizes [대상/Daesang] like Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Performance of the Year, at the end-of-the year award shows
While Youtube views on the MV definitely help especially when it comes to global chart visibility, they are actually not counted with digital streaming points, they're under SNS points (SNS is the Korean slang for social media/networking sites) and unlike digital streaming points and physical points, SNS points carry less points when it comes to winning Korean weekly music show trophies.
So let's say if a song is trending on YouTube, but is at #30 on Genie, it's likely going to lose a massive amount of digital streaming points on weekly music shows compared to other hits that were released around the same time.
Unlike photocards and raffle tickets, attending a live show usually relies on a first come, first serve...unless the group is incredibly popular then it's back to a lottery system '^^
Because music festivals and major award shows happen seasonally while comeback concerts depend on when the idols make a comeback, and concerts tours happen every other year or more, attending the weekly pre-recordings or live-broadcasts is the next best thing — and it's free!
You have to apply incredibly quickly once the online form opens with the verification requirements like physical album or proof of digital streaming or your official lightstick at the ready to prove you are a dedicated fan. it's a first come, first serve system + show proof of fan club membership. After that, if it's a lottery, then just wait for your application to be randomly picked. Then, it's waiting hours at the broadcasting station.
Now, will all these people in this particular scene get inside to watch Huntr/x perform Golden? Probably not, that's going to clog the broadcasting station's hallways — and quite frankly, no music show sets are nowhere big enough to seat all these people — but you better believe the people left outside will continue waiting there to greet the girls after their live broadcast is done even if it's like 5 degrees outside.
While it is pretty common almost everywhere else in the world for fans to sing along with the singers throughout the entire song, that is not the case when it comes to k-pop. K-pop has a thing called Eungwonbeop or official fanchants:
Official fanchants were made specifically so fans can join in on the experience of singing with their idols without drowning out the idols themselves. The agencies usually make the fanchants for the title track (plus 1 b-side track sometimes) for the comeback with the idols themselves filming the fanchant guide themselves to show fans how it's done (pun intended) but fans themselves can and do make unofficial fanchants for the other b-side tracks
You can actually see and hear this in the movie with "How It's Done" where you can hear fans singing along and singing after the girls [2:34, 2:41, 2:46, 2:49, 2:52, and 2:55]
[Here's examples of how fanchants work]
Besides bits of the lyrics, fanchants will typically have fans shouting out the name of the song, the name of the group and each of the real full names of the members (usually in the order of oldest to youngest), as well as additional phrases during long instrumental parts
5. Billboards & Subway Ad
Whenever people see celebrities on billboards and subway ads, the first assumption tends to be that their company must be promoting them right now and yes, that is also true in Korea and in K-pop, but outside of that context, it's actually usually 100% fan-funded.
This is done by fans pooling money together for months in advance to rent out ad-spaces in order to celebrate everything from birthdays to milestones to anniversaries. Why? It's because they love the idols so much they're willing to spend thousands to millions of won to hype them up to the rest of the city
...and flex their buying power as fans
You can actually see this in the movie with the takeover of the Saja Boys on the displays as more and more fans leave the hunters to join the pride
[I wanted to keep the photos in this post strictly to the movie, but I don't have anything to work with as far as I remember so please bear with it ㅠㅠ]
If you thought fans spend too much on things like billboard ad space, boy you are wrong. In fact, there is even more and that includes Saengil Cafes.
Saengil Cafes are done by fans in order to celebrate the birthday of their idols usually for a week. This is usually done by pooling money together to rent out a local coffee shop to host the occasion complete with redecorating, custom photo galleries, posters (or life-sized standees if the budget can handle it), banners, cupsleeves, etc.
The incentive for fans to show up instead of just celebrating at home? Free stuff!
The custom cupsleeve featuring the idol's face
Idols aren't expected to make an appearances at these cafes at all but it is welcomed nonetheless.
7. Sending Support Trucks
Yes, you read it right, fans do indeed hire and send trucks to their idols but it's to support them as they get ready for a comeback, allowing them to feed the idols and their staff for free. These trucks usually come in the form of coffee trucks (a truck that serves coffee and also sometimes iced tea and fruit juice depending on who's doing the catering) and bunsik trucks (a truck that serves street food like tteokbokki, eomukkochi or eomuktang, twigim and sotteok-sotteok). These trucks are often decorated with banners, custom packaging, and gifts like messages, flowers and teddy bears.
And this isn't limited to just the fans, the other members can send each other trucks too! Say if Zoey was filming for a variety show, Rumi and Mira can send her a coffee truck (or a churro truck) to get through filming or just as a reward for finishing filming!
There's also a different kind of truck and that is the LED Truck [LED 트럭]. As the name describes, it is a truck with an LED display. Fans rent these trucks out for a very specific purpose: Protest
When fans feel like the agency is mistreating their idols or the idols themselves have done something they disapproved of, they'll rent these trucks out and send them to park outside the agency's headquarters with the LED displaying flashing the changes they want made until the agency or the idol gives in
Black oceans are another form of protest fans do and it is the most dreaded. This is when fans become eerily quiet and deliberately turn off their lightsticks, resulting in the formation of a pit of darkness in the crowd thus a black ocean.
This usually happens fans are boycotting idols (and their agencies) because of fandom rivalries, controversies, and rumors. It's not as common anymore due to evolving fan etiquettes plus advancing lightstick technology allowing for venues to connect and control lightsticks via bluetooth/irDA control syncing preventing individuals to turn off their lightsticks but it is still feared by idols nonetheless
TLDR? It's not cheap being a kpop fan ㅜㅜ
Keep in mind that these are not all the activites fans do, every fandom is unique with their own rituals and habits, these are just more or less the big common ones
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