Cho PD, never one afraid to speak his mind, recently took to task labels who buy back the albums of their artists in order to secure wins on music shows and what not.
The music industry’s straight shooter Cho PD slammed the practices of album ‘Bulk buying’, believed to be practiced by certain labels. He didn’t name the label in specific nor did he point his finger to a specific group, but his statement is sure to make quite the controversy in the coming days.
The album bulk buying is a form a scam believed to be practiced by some of the labels, it is sometimes carried out with the help of their fan club or they hire a 3rd party who does the buying for them. The labels then win the 1st place on TV music programs with their groups and they put their name out there, winning endorsement deals, TV contracts and so forth. Many industry insiders attest that it’s a secret that everyone knows, but the judgment is still out there.
Cho PD is not only a rapper himself but he’s also the producer of the group ‘Block B’. He stated on the 16th, “I want to talk about bubbles and bulk buying”.
If you go to record retailers or to concerts (he means TV music program pre-recordings), you feel the reaction of the audience on hand right away. Someone wins #1 on the chart but the reaction of the audience is rather cold, I ask if that isn’t the sign of bubble”.
He continued, “You can make bunch of TV appearances and even buy albums both in physical and in digital format in bulk, but that’s only on the surface and it’s not a real success, so it can’t continue. The bubble pops in a year or two, so in a way it doesn’t even need to be criticized”.
Cho PD laments the fact that singers need to be good in variety and even debut as actors to thrive in the industry.
Cho PD ended his statement saying, “It is important to get closer to the public with activities outside of music such as making TV appearances. However, you have your priorities backwards if you are trying to become the best (singer) with only those activities”.
Glad somebody in the business acknowledged what every fan and fandom already suspected.
I touched on this before as well, noting that rabid Japanese fans make every effort to support their artists primarily with their wallets, as they buy physical and digital products. However, Korean fans are generally more occupied with polls and getting their artists to win awards.
As a result of this difference, Korean companies typically don’t make their cash from the music sales (in Korea) themselves, but rather from endorsement deals, therefore putting a premium on winning music shows to create the illusion of popularity by any means necessary…including buying back the albums of your own artists.
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*cough*sj*cough*
@pominitslut
Haha sooo true.As a former elf,i’d get this tweets telling other elfs bout how they are going to bulk buy,which album they are going to bulk buy “buy version A because thats the version that they are judging for Golden Disk” blah blah. That sht was cray.
Cho is gon’ feel za heat for this one. All the big guns are going to try and block Block B again this year. :(
And to be honest i think that if Block B were a bigger group we’d have those cray ass bitches in the FC too.Block B has loyal fans that buy their stuff,not in bulk but they buy.Im waiting for my “welcome to the block” limited edition to come :)
Super Junior fans are impressively coordinated with that shit.
^ Actually they’re really really coordinated. I believe some of them are in cahoots with blackjacks when it comes to online polls..I think their agreement is something along the lines of we’ll help you win over SNSD if you help us win over Big Bang or whoever they’re against. It’s kinda smart but it’s for a dumb purpose anyways.
@liley. It’s funny how before an album release ELFs will say things like “we love SJ but if that album sucks then we aren’t gonna buy it SM!” and then end up buying like 3 copies. I hate it when they force you to buy stuff..
That is frightening.
Go figure.
Like you said though, everybody sorta knew this went on.
Ive heard about that issue several times. Its cheap and dirty. I wonder who’s actually doing this.
Im glad he’s speaking up about this but at the same time its screwing block b over as well. Which sucks because I personally think they are better than half the groups getting praised.
I thought about that angle as well.
People were already saying, “Oh he’s mad because Block B aren’t stars” or whatever.
LMFAO! This to me is very new… i kinda figured that the hype was a bit ludicrous but bulk buying is a new concept to me. and block b’s new album is very interesting but they aren’t the only ones who don’t get the “mad” hype, label’s just use their poster boys and girls and send them to America but in truth you’d be damned if anyone talked to you about k.pop and Girl’s Generation in any where but New York, Florida or Cali. Label’s should promote the good groups and not the “one hit wonder” people. God knows you can’t pay me enough to but half of the limited edition of any SNSD album. i won’t even buy it if it were a dollar. I wish alot more other groups would come here as they have much better songs but all we get is a bunch of SNSD and SM stuff. I can’t even big to describe the horror or their live performance. No offense or anything but they kinda…. you know…suck. Thank God for Cho PD, and to hell with bulk buying and Poster groups.
People are doing bulk buy for big bang’s new album right now. I saw them on tumblr and twitter talking about it.
Well…i thought VIPs were a little more sensible but im guessing this is done for all the major companies…i don’t still see the point, i mean how much do they really get paid if they do at all?
They don’t get paid.The bulk buying chessychua was referring to is all arranged by fans. Basically they buy/pre-order 2 or more copies of an album so oppars would win charts. Actually I haven’t heard of VIPs doing the same practice until now.. maybe everyone is scared that they won’t do as well because of the Daesung and GD incidents.
And lol @mldgrater even Sones do bulk buying especially for SNSD’s US album. I’ve seen people diss those who illegally download their albums and say “you’re not a true fan if you don’t buy it” as if everyone has money to spare.
2pm, much? fucking jyp…