In case anyone isnāt caught up, hereās a rundown of what has happened with the SHINee Fanmeet fiasco:
SM announced the fanmeet would be held in Kintex, a notoriously bad venue about 1.5 hours from most places in Seoul. Fans complained, but hoped the layout would make it work out, although many considered just watching the beyond live since they knew the views might not be very good (edit to add clarification: Kintex is like exhibition halls with walls that can be removed to make the rooms bigger and the freedom to build the seating/stage layout differently for each event since itās essentially just a very long empty room)
SM originally made the Korean ticketing announcement with a line included stating that there would be a beyond live, but shawols noticed at some point that this line was removed, bringing doubt that there would actually be a live stream
Shortly after that was noticed, SM dropped the seating layout and it was terrible. It would take place in one long, flat room with no elevated seating and a pillar in the middle of it. If you were about halfway back, you wouldnāt be able to see anything past the heads in front of you or the pillar. Additionally, this wasnāt a venue made for music events, so even the audio wouldnāt be good near the back
With the line about the beyond live removed from the announcement and the seating chart being worse than we imagined, it added to the upset as it felt as though SM knew the venue/views would be terrible and fans would prefer to watch a livestream, so they removed that option, making fans feel like they had no choice but to pay ~$100 for a ticket where they couldnāt see or even hear the boys. Also, SM dropped the seating chart right before a sort of half-holiday weekend in Korea (Labor Day) so it seemed even more sketch, like they knew fans would complain so they made the announcement at a time when they wouldnāt have to deal with it over the extended weekend.
SM also included a little notice saying that some seats would have limited views but there would be no refunds if that were the case, so choose your seat wisely. Except they didnāt even confirm where the restricted view seats were, leaving the responsibility entirely up to the fans with no offer to refund
On top of it all, shawols have felt for years that shinee gets treated badly by their company, and shawols by extension. There are many instances of shinee goods being more expensive or not as good of quality, and a lot of shawols felt walked all over because it was like the company knew we would just pay for anything they gave us without complaint, like bad merch or an awful venue. But not this time, this was the last straw.
Kwols immediately rallied together to protest the seating layout and venue choice. By the same night, a list of demands were made (apology from SM directly, direct confirmation of beyond live, venue change or at least a seating change layout). An anonymous shawol even donated $1000 for the rental of protest trucks to be placed outside of the SM building. If the demands were not met, most shawols agreed to boycott the live performance
SM released a statement confirming there would be a beyond live, but they werenāt going to change anything about the live performance. They claimed that they originally had a venue that could hold 5000 people (which was insulting on its own) but that reservation fell through, so they went with kintex. They said there would be a screen on the back of the pillar, so fans in the back would be watching the entire thing on a screen since it would be impossible to see the stage from any point beyond the pillar, and the members would go around in carts for people in the back to see them (which, keep in mind, usually only happens for one or two songs out of the entire event). And theyād look into potentially making inclined seating, but no guarantee. Keep in mind, it is possible in this venue to design the stage/seating layout in any way the organizer wants, but they kept the bad layout they originally made.
This only made fans angrier. It felt like they were using the members as an excuse (citing the members schedules even though we know the members cleared most of their schedules specifically for the anniversary) and underestimating shawols by going for a 5k capacity venue at first, and then refusing to make any kind of change that would actually better the situation, not even a seating layout change, nor lowered prices for those in the back. Plus, fans themselves found other venues that are available for the same day. It gave the impression that SM didnāt have a plan B in case their first choice failed, so they just went with the quickest, easiest, and cheapest option. Even though they could have started planning this months ago since the anniversary is a fixed date :/
Fans doubled down on the boycott. This time, if SM didnāt change the venue entirely, shawols agreed to not only boycott ticketing for the in-person event, but also the beyond live and the merch. Hearing from the kwol side of things, there were a few that didnāt want to boycott, but the overwhelming majority would boycott. Plus oversees shawols agreeing to boycott the beyond live meant this would be a global boycott that would mean major revenue losses for SM.
This even reached major news outlets and multiple articles were made. The members didnāt say anything about it, but on ticketing day around noon, Onew responded to a comment on his Instagram post acknowledging the situation and stating that he and the members were talking to the company to find the best possible solution.
Finally, only 4 hours before the fanclub pre-sale was supposed to begin, SM announced that ticketing would be postponed while they look for a new venue. We did it!
Thereās more information, but thatās the gist. I hope everyone understands, no one really wanted to boycott. Of course we all wanted to see SHINee and support them for their anniversary, but shawols didnāt want to give SM the impression that this kind of organization or treatment of SHINee or the fans was okay. If we all just bit our tongues and bought tickets, what would stop SM from doing something just as bad for the next SHINee event? Or even another group? We made our voices heard and it worked! Now weāre just waiting for the new ticketing date/venue to be announced. Happy SHINee month!
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