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| K-pop boy band SuperM conquered the Billboard 200 Chart with its debut album "SuperM," but has been engulfed in controversy over its album bundles. Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Boy band SuperM is the first K-pop act to secure No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 Chart with its debut album, but the group has been stirring heated debate among international fans and media over its album bundles issue.
SuperM ― comprising members of K-pop bands under SM Entertainment's management, including SHINee, EXO, NCT127 and WayV ― reigned atop the chart by selling 168,000 "equivalent album" units during the first week of its release (Oct 4-10.) Among the units, 164,000 came from physical album sales, while 4,000 were from streaming.
The figures show that the seven-member group ― composed of SHINee's Taemin, EXO's Baekhyun and Kai, NCT127's Taeyong and Mark and WayV's Ten and Lucas ― sold a massive number of albums, but people are wondering whether it could have reached the milestone without album bundling.
In fact, SuperM released eight versions of the album, had more than 60 merchandise/album bundles on web stores and included digital copies of the album for every ticket to its North American tour slated for November, reports said.
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| Billboard columnist Jeff Benjamin. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-min |
The Korea Times recently spoke with Jeff Benjamin, a New York-based music journalist who has been writing about K-pop for Billboard since 2013, for a hint.
Benjamin said he was hardly in a position to say whether the strategies were acceptable or not (because he was a writer, not a person from the charts department) before answering the questions.
"I don't think many groups, if any, could create this type of excitement over both their music and merchandise unless it was a major supergroup like SuperM did," he said.
"People bought the albums because of their love for SuperM members. If the album sales are 'boosted' and there isn't true demand, I believe that will show in the future concert tour dates if they struggle to sell tickets. One person may buy multiple albums, but one person cannot fill multiple seats."
From Nov 11, the septet will embark on a North American tour ― "We Are The Future Live" ― staging gigs in cities including Texas, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. The members are expected to attract audiences of 10,000 during the tour.
Some fans even raised the possibility that Billboard might change its chart if it thinks SuperM's bundling is problematic. Benjamin also delivered his thoughts on the issue.
"I do think it's a possibility, but it is something that will be reviewed and discussed heavily before any announcement is made," he said. "There have been issues in the past, with the former Billboard directors making rash decisions the week of a heated chart battle and it caused a lot of pain and irritation in the industry."
Benjamin referred to the case of American pop singer Britney Spears in 2007. Her album "Blackout" was slipped to the No. 2 spot following Billboard's last-minute rule change.
"These changes challenge the trust of consumers and readers and have not happened in years," Benjamin said. "So I can assure you that if any changes are coming, it will be revealed after serious and important discussions."
