Damn Idol – Episode 140
* * *
Since Sedalbaegil used the official website’s built-in streaming feature, the broadcast was generally quite pleasant.
For starters, the mere absence of random mass aggro drastically improved the stream’s quality.
That said, it wasn’t completely devoid of malicious solo fans or attention seekers, but compared to other idols’ streaming broadcasts, it was much cleaner.
However, from the fans’ perspective, there was still something to be desired: the official website was too dry.
It wasn’t lacking necessary features.
If anything, it had a surplus of features.
Just what kind of idol group would put a monthly top-decoration ranking on their official website?
What fans found dry was the design.
Even in the currently ongoing stream, the means for fans to express their emotions were extremely lacking.
But this was unavoidable.
The one who had designed the official website in the first place was a jaded regressor, Han Sion, who was steeped in the macho culture of America.
And the one who had implemented it was CEO Kang of
[Hello!]
[Hello, Time Traveler.]
[Hyung, you’re too stiff.]
Though it was the second stream since the fandom name had been decided, Han Sion stubbornly called them by the full name instead of TT.
According to him, it was because he felt it was more respectful, but everyone knew the truth.
TT sounded way too cute, and Han Sion had a pathological aversion to cute things.
[Then I shall call you Double T.]
[Lame…….]
There were fans who disliked Han Sion’s attitude, but surprisingly, it wasn’t necessarily like that.
It was because if they kept at it, he would eventually give in.
Breaking down in the process.
[……
TT.]
Watching the sinking Han Sion was quite entertaining.
And so the streaming broadcast began.
The members introduced the cheering methods for K-Pop Struggle and State Of Mind that they had prepared in advance, and there was some talk about the music show.
The conclusion was simple.
There was no need to prepare anything.
They just had to bring their membership card and ID, they said.
The rest would work itself out, they said.
-????
-What do you mean, work itself out?!
Even when fans kept asking, they only repeated the same answer with an attitude of absolute confidence, as if everything was already taken care of.
Around then, “That Time,” which had now become Sedalbaegil’s identity, came around again.
[I drink water…….]
[Water is truly precious…….]
[Water is life…….]
It was the commercial break.
-LOL
-Where did your soul go lol
-If you’re gonna use it like that, can’t you give that soul to me?
It was a mid-stream commercial that had started as a joke at fans’ request during the first stream, but it had now become Sedalbaegil’s identity.
But surprisingly.
-Huh, what? I can see the label?
-Broadcast accident! lol
There were also advertising managers who had been keeping a close eye on this.
[Fresh and lively water drawn directly from deep groundwater.]
[Not fresh and lively, it’s water brimming with vitality and purity…….]
[You probably didn’t draw it yourself……?]
[Water brimming with vitality and purity, drawn up from deep groundwater.]
[Aah, a refreshing and clean taste!]
-lol What do you mean “clean taste” for bottled water lol
It seemed to proceed half-jokingly, but in fact, it was all scripted.
It wasn’t something that ended on the stream; they had also promised to upload it to the official channel.
As the commercial was coming to an end, Han Sion opened his mouth.
If there was another unwritten rule in Sedalbaegil’s streams, it was that after the commercial break, they would announce something in one way or another.
Of course, the announcements weren’t always grandiose.
There were grand ones, like music show appearance announcements (which they talked about on stream before the articles came out), but most were trivial.
They would reveal a fan song made during a break, or disclose the members’ health checkup results.
In other words, they maintained the content of making an announcement after the commercial break, but without putting too much weight on it.
This time, too, there was an announcement.
[An album is being released.]
[It’s a full-length studio album consisting of 13 tracks in total.]
But it was no small matter.
* * *
[Sedalbaegil Announces Release of First Full-Length Album]
[13 Tracks Including Colorful Struggle, State Of Mind!]
[Sedalbaegil, Building a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem, Begins Pre-Orders Through Official Website]
[Sedalbaegil Breaks Away from Traditional Album Sales Marketing!]
Articles about Sedalbaegil’s first full-length album poured out.
At the same time, album marketing and viral campaigns kicked off.
It was because Sedalbaegil had finally gained personnel in charge of PR and marketing.
It was Team Leader Seo Seung-hyun, who had transferred from BVB Entertainment to Sedalbaegil, and the team he had put together.
Of course, there were also critical articles.
[Official Website Linked to Online Album Retailers? Potential Issues with Chart Aggregation? Some Point Out Structure is Extremely Vulnerable to Sajaegi.]
[Sedalbaegil’s Studio Album Sales, A Critical Message to the Idol Album Ecosystem.]
[Sedalbaegil, Debuted Through a Survival Program—Can Their Lofty Ideals Be Respected?]
The flood of such articles wasn’t solely because of Ryan Entertainment.
This time, other entertainment companies that had been maintaining neutrality regarding Sedalbaegil jumped up.
It was because Sedalbaegil had excessively violated the industry’s unwritten rules.
---------------------
[Summary of Sedalbaegil’s Streaming Content. Objective Info Only, No Personal Opinions.]
……
And the SBN music show is pre-recording + live broadcast. The pre-recording song is K-Pop Struggle, and the pre-recording capacity is 150 people.
Seunomje Choi Jae-seong is said to be filming. There was a nuance that he was doing something variety-related, but they didn’t disclose what.
Now, about the album.
Not an EP, a full-length studio album.
K-Pop Struggle is included as a bonus? hidden? track, and including Colorful Struggle, there are 13 tracks in total.
The title track seems to be State Of Mind, but not sure.
Speculating that since the album name is Raseo, there might be a title track with the same name.
From here on, it gets a bit confusing.
Pre-orders are being taken on their own homepage. They said it’s linked in collaboration with retailers.
The biggest reason they’re taking orders on the official website seems to be because of the goods; they said they’ll send you the photocard + goods of the member you want.
Of course, what’s stocked in stores will be random.
So if there’s a photocard or goods you want, you should pre-order.
Album price is 13,000 won… ;;
According to Han Sion, he said he wants to keep the fansign cutoff as low as possible.
They won’t create purchase rankings in stores at all, and it’ll be 100% random draw; he said he wants it to be one lottery entry per person, not one entry per album.
But they said they’re worried because this takes way too much manpower and there are many realistically impossible aspects.
Maybe they’ll only hold the fansign lottery through official website pre-orders? Then one account can have one entry.
He said he hopes people buy only as much as they need. Still, he joked that one album might feel a bit lacking, and it’d be nice to buy two and give one to a friend or family member as a gift.
After that…….
(Omitted)
..(Added after seeing comments)
During the broadcast, there was no mention whatsoever of other groups’ album sales methods.
They just said this is how they wanted to do it.
No forced controversy.
--------------------
To the numerous entertainment companies of South Korea, Sedalbaegil’s studio album sales method had far too many elements that threatened their marketing logic.
The album price was too cheap, and you could choose which member’s goods you wanted.
Moreover, they wanted to lower the fansign cutoff as much as possible, wanting to sell only the albums that fans would actually keep in their collection.
If an unpopular group had done this, they would have been laughed at.
They would have scoffed that the group was choosing an honorable death because they knew their albums wouldn’t sell anyway.
But Sedalbaegil was a bit different.
Their actions were not treated as mere “difference.”
They were treated as being “ahead of the curve.”
If the hottest group at the moment adopted this method, what would happen to the other groups?
They might get cursed at just for doing what they’d always done.
That was why countless entertainment companies frowned and rose up against it.
Naturally, the fandoms of other groups also reacted sensitively.
Because this could position Sedalbaegil as the only one caring for fans, while other groups looked like they were only obsessed with money.
But support fire for Sedalbaegil came from completely unexpected places.
The first was, absurdly enough, environmental groups.
2017 was not a time when discussions on carbon neutrality were actively taking place on a national level, nor when government agencies were being launched.
But the very proposition that plastic and carbon emissions needed to be reduced was widespread.
In that sense, environmental groups had occasionally made statements supporting USB albums over physical albums in CD cases.
These people had been talking about completely unrelated things in completely unrelated places, then brought up Sedalbaegil’s album.
—“We aren’t saying you shouldn’t enjoy culture. We now live in the age of Homo Ludens (the playing human), after all.”
—“However, enjoying that culture shouldn’t come at the cost of our descendants’ future. I saw this morning’s articles saying the marketing method of a group called Sedalbaegil is a hot topic? I really think they are such smart young people……”
The second support fire came from a famous streamer who had once been a moderately successful idol and was now doing internet personal broadcasts.
He sometimes told funny entertainment industry stories, but never said anything that would court controversy. It was this person who mentioned Sedalbaegil.
—“Honestly, most idols probably want to do it like Sedalbaegil? The problem is their companies won’t let them.”
—“I think the reason so many talented idol singers are lumped together and treated as non-musicians is because of the marketing methods.”
—“They put savoring the music dead last. That’s the company’s entire policy.”
—“Ah, right. This is limited only to singers who have passed the break-even point and can receive settlements.”
At this point, the atmosphere in the idol industry shifted slightly.
Come to think of it, that made sense.
The singers they liked and supported didn’t decide the marketing; the companies did.
Of course, it was only natural for capitalist logic to enter idol marketing.
From the company’s perspective, maximizing profit wasn’t a bad thing either.
But it was true that there were times when it left a bitter taste in your mouth.
-(Photo)(Photo) K’s Twitter today. Doesn’t posting a single physical album seem meaningful?
-Honestly, K has spoken with the nuance of worrying about fans spending too much money since a long time ago.
And, stating the obvious…….
-lolol Hip Sion, you punk. I wondered why you became an idol, but you weren’t even acting like one lol You were just doing whatever you wanted lol
-No but if it’s 13,000 won, I want to buy it too? The album quality is guaranteed just from Colorful Struggle and State Of Mind alone;
-lol If you’re gonna buy it, choose which photocard you’ll get lololol
-Fuck, can I opt out of the photocard?
-If you think about these lunatics obsessed with the environment, they’ll probably make a no-photocard version too lol
-Think of the sea turtles suffering from plastic!
-Smart young people.
-No but they seemed to have spent quite a bit on the MV too, where do they think they’re going to make money??
-They don’t have a company taking a cut of their profits.
-Don’t worry. They’re becoming a blue chip in the advertising world. (Link).
-“Fresh and lively,” you say? This is kind of an appealing bottled water brand?
-“Clean taste,” yeah right lolol
The general public, completely detached from idol culture, applauded Sedalbaegil’s moves.
All of this happened in a single day.
Entertainment articles, social issues articles, music charts, real-time search rankings, SNS trending volumes, and so on.
Sedalbaegil had reached number one on every metric.
“Ugh…….”
“Get up. It’s three o’clock. We have to head out.”
They were waking up at 3 a.m. for their first music show.