« Billboard Pro : For the K-Pop Industry, Merch Is As Important As the Music »

SuperM perform on stage at Rogers Arena on Feb. 6, 2020 in Vancouver, Canada. Andrew Chin/Getty Images The products spur fan loyalty and, in the process, feed a multibillion-dollar industry, but for K-pop enthusiasts with limited incomes, the cost of keeping current with the latest in fan gear can be e…

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In the early 2010s, it became the norm for K-pop groups to release multiple versions of an album — each of which features different exclusive photos of the acts. SuperM’s The 1st Mini Album EP arrived last October with seven variants — each featuring a single member of the group — in addition to the standard cover which blended the individual cover variants. Other major artists, notably Taylor Swift, have employed a similar multiple-version strategy, but the practice is far less common in the traditional, U.S.-driven pop world.

“When you usually buy a CD, it’s assumed you’re buying a plastic disc that happens to have a booklet,” says Bernie Cho, who heads DFSB Kollective, a Korean music export agency. “In Korea, with a lot of the big releases it’s almost the other way around: You are buying an elaborate book that just happens to have a CD.”

Variant album covers don’t just cater to fans’ individual loyalties — they can also boost sales and chart position. SuperM’s EP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and of the 290,000 copies (physical and digital) that it has sold as of Feb. 4, 102,000 of those CDs were variants, according to Nielsen Music/MRC data (see chart).

https://www.billboard.com/pro
By Tamar Herman

Featured Commentator : Bernie Cho [DFSB Kollective]