Voting is NOT the most important thing to do to support your favs.
Disclaimer: Read the entire thing & yes, I used to think it was but after this recent MCountdown results for this week I have had a different outlook.
What it does do is help your fav’s company get recognition. Hear me out (and yeah this is my OPINION not fact). These music shows actually air on TV in Korea, right? And these idols perform on these shows, right? The entire point of this segment is for entertainment purposes so the network gets ratings: #$$$ and the idol company gets their cut since their idols are performing: #$$$. Well, how do these companies ensure that people will watch the show? They make it a competition because no one can resist competition. Especially if it is for someone you love. A.K.A your emotional kpop group. So the show creates a competition where fans can vote for their favs to win an award. The reward for doing that? Your group may get a billboard and or just gets more notice from other music listeners. Which is very important for less popular groups in Korea, as in every international famous group. But thinking from another perspective, it is completely baseless. Yeah, your fav won an award but only because you wanted them to. It wasn’t a nonbias third party that said “ *insert group name here* gets this award because of their musical genius!” no it’s because of the fans. The companies entertain the fans, give them a little prize for voting, and collect all the money from the ratings. Even the apps they designed for us to vote on make money for the company! Free for us but using it just spreads the cash. Idol companies love it too because, due to the fans, other kpop listeners will be exposed to their groups and may become fans themselves.
This is pretty obvious though. So you may be asking, “k and?” I gave an opinionated background knowledge about voting to go into my next point, show wins. People think voting is the most important thing to do for show wins. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Take this past week (October comebacks). On Mcountdown the 3 contenders to win the voting were Stray Kids in 1st place, Ateez in 2nd place, and AB6IX in 3rd. And guess who won? AB6IX. When I saw this today I was in shock, how in the hell did they win? (NO OFFENSE, THEY DESERVE THEIR WIN LIKE ANY GROUP. But this is what I truly thought.) They were in 3rd place not even at 20% voting. Then I remembered what a post said:
The second paragraph is the focus here. Voting points only count for a small portion in order to win a show win. Album sales are what really make the difference. Remembering that I came the conclusion that AB6iX’s album sales were higher than Ateez’s full-length album’s sales. In reality, there’s no way Stray Kids could have won since there was no physical album or even a single CD. But I was shocked with Ateez. I mean, highly popular overseas and had an album. Well, it’s because of the demographic. AB6IX has a stronger Korean fanbase than Ateez. Facts not shade. So because of that, they were able to get more albums. Where in reality, international fans’ purchases were probably not high enough. Hey, albums cost a lot and there’s shipping and handling, so buying it isn’t always possible. But the fans just think that if they stream hard enough they can win. No. You need to buy in order to make the numbers show. Streaming an mv does nothing besides maybe getting a group on the trending page. Publicity but no paycheck. PD Form of Therapy explained in their SEVENTEEN HIT MV reaction that companies only make an mv to promote the album and that they make no money from all the views. It would take a ton of views to probably make a few dollars. Link here to the discussion: https://youtu.be/j98Yq3ow8vM?t=766 . It also counts for a small part of winning and streaming only counts for a max of 2000. Cause again look at the facts:
Ateez: 13 million views for the MV & >800K for the comeback stage (at the time of the final vote)
Stray Kids: 13 million views for the MV & 1.2 million for the comeback stage (at the time of the final vote)
I do not know the original stats for AB6IX but as of now:
The only explanation is their bigger Korean fanbase and way higher physical sales (I do not know the stats for those). So basically stressing about voting and streaming is dumb because it’s kind of the last thing. CIX Movie Star has 8.8 million views in 2 months. LESS THAN 10 MILLION. But they got 9 wins at their debut. I assume they had a fair amount of voting but more physical sales since they did have an album. ITZY is a different case but still is a good example. They have Big 3 privilege, a lot of views, and a lot of voting (I’m assuming). However, they’re popular in Korea, not much internationally. And therefore more Koreans bought their EP. That matters.
So why make this unnecessarily long post? Well I needed to vent because even though I knew Stray Kids couldn’t possibly win this week I was so disappointed when I saw the results. AND WHY THE HELL AM I??? I should be purely happy for AB6IX and for Ateez being nominated. Instead, I was hellbent with the competition between Ateez and Stray Kids and confused when the 3rd place in voting won first place. In other shows too.
I honestly hate voting and I wish I could just delete all the apps and never vote again. But then I remember how happy SKZ were when they got their first win and I…. The kpop industry really is a genius. They get their fans to do free marketing because we love them and even when we are tired of the bsery we still put up with it. Because of our connection. But I am not going to fully play into their hands anymore. From now on, I will vote for all groups I like (which is few) with only one account each. If they comeback in the same week I am voting for both. I am done getting upset over losing or so into it so they can get a win. But more importantly I will start buying physical FULL-LENGTH albums and the one on iTunes so I can doubly support my groups. Only full-length albums not minis, I do not have that type of money.
Let me say this to fans out there who have issues with voting:
YOU ARE NOT A FAKE FAN IF YOU DO NOT VOTE. IT IS YOUR CHOICE AND YOUR FEELINGS TOWARD IT.
YOU ARE NOT A FAKE FAN IF YOU VOTE FOR MULTIPLE GROUPS ALL COMPETING AGAINST EACH OTHER.
You are only a fake fan if you do not care about the music but just “stan” for bandwagon success.
And I can’t believe I was always like “Y’ALL SHOULD BE VOTING” I hate that I was like that. Yes, we should support the groups but not like that. Honestly, we need to be buying the physical albums, that is the only real way to support them. Buy it on iTunes or Naver or buy the actual copy. To the people who cannot afford it, do not blame yourselves or get mad at me but it is the truth. Try saving up money for the entire year by doing chores/ getting a job so you can purchase it.
OK, in conclusion, I have realized the kpop fandom is really all about views, voting percentages, and charting rather than the music. But that is so NOT THE POINT. I’m going to use Stray Kids as an example. You really think they are focused on wins? You really think if they don’t win they won’t be happy? Well if they do I’ll bop them over the head and tell them to remember what they do have.
-They have a career where they make and sing about music THEY want to sing about.
-They have toured the world multiple times.
-They have performed at these big award shows even when they were rookies tearing UP the entire audience.
-They have met all their fans worldwide.
-They have the craziest fans who make the coolest projects for them and have stayed by their side
-They have people buying their music.
-And they have their smiles.
THAT IS IMPORTANT. Not some numbers that their fans can brag about to other fandoms. Cause that’s all it is! Fans are like a mom making her kid get straight A’s so she can go to people and be like “my kid did that and I gave birth to that kid.” Stop. STOP.
Remember, the show wins, voting, streaming do have their place but are not the end-all.
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