The Korean Truthful Commerce Fee is investigating main Okay-pop companies over misleading album gross sales practices associated to photocards.
Leisure companies within the Okay-pop sphere have more and more begun promoting photocards of band members with their albums, a observe that will increase the quantity of items followers should purchase to extend their probabilities of getting the photocard they need. Korea’s antitrust company is launching a probe into whether or not the observe violates legal guidelines or disrupts the market.
Typically included in albums, photocards are images of Okay-pop stars which have by no means been launched in different media, main many avid followers to gather them in a present of affection. However as a result of the playing cards are randomly positioned in every album, probably the most die-hard followers buy a number of copies of the identical album to extend their probabilities of getting the photocard they need — and lots of Okay-pop teams comprise quite a few members.
The Korean Truthful Commerce Fee has stepped up its efforts to analyze main leisure companies to find out whether or not the observe is exploitative of followers. On July 31, SM Leisure was investigated underneath this suspicion, as have been JYP Leisure and YG Leisure on August 1 and a couple of, respectively. The investigations comply with rising complaints about extreme spending on photocards, extras of which are sometimes offered on secondary marketplaces corresponding to eBay.
NCT, a bigger idol group of 20 members, was cited for example; of their 2020 album, 50 completely different photocards have been launched. As a result of followers can’t preview which photocard is contained within the album earlier than buy, some bought tens of a whole lot of albums to safe photocards of their favorites.
Because of this, the social media pattern of album unboxing, or “album kkang,” emerged, the place followers unbox a number of copies of an album to indicate off which photocards they bought. That, unsurprisingly, results in extreme buying from much more followers.
The FTC investigation is to find out whether or not the method of manufacture and gross sales are dealt with pretty, as many firms have been suspected of altering manufacturing numbers to make some photocards rarer among the many identical set, thus selling further gross sales.
Korean officers have rejected media requests for remark.