How to support K-pop Idols as an International Fan
"I'm here to save you, I'm here to ruin you"
How to support K-pop Idols as an International Fan
Being a K-pop fan is not an easy task, from no-stop comebacks to fan chants and various types of official merchandise, one has to always be up to date. But being an international K-pop fan is another level of difficult. Being charged shipping prices that are higher than the actual price of the K-pop item to not being able to vote for our favorites during various shows, international fans don’t have it easy.
We have
always seen various videos and articles about “The Struggles of being an
International K-pop Fan”. We see the problems we face being an international
fan but today I will give you some solutions on how to overcome some of these
problems!
1) Purchase
Physical Albums
I know the
first thing you might have done is rolled your eyes and questioned my
sensibility. Purchasing the physical album directly helps the group. Companies
determine the future of the group by seeing the amount of physical purchase.
Events like concerts and fan signs in countries are determined mostly on the
basis of physical sales of the album. Also, these album sales help them win at
various shows and get nominated for award shows. Before you begin to laugh at me,
I’ll let you know some sites that sell the albums at very low prices, many of
them sell albums at prices lesser than Rs.2000 including shipping costs. Some
sellers on Instagram are
- @gwiyomi_kawai_shop
- @kpopindiamerch
- @kpopindianstore
- @indiakpopmart
- @kpopshop_aizawl
2) Stream songs during comeback
It may sound obvious but there is actually a
proper algorithm to stream songs during comeback season. First thing avoid
watching the lyrical videos of the songs for at least the first 24 hours as views
on the official music video play a very important role for artists to win on
various shows like M!Countdown and The Show. A particular percentage is given
to MV views when the overall score is calculated. If the artist has a high
amount of MV views they might have a better chance to win. Second is for
streaming songs on YouTube there is an algorithm. 
What is an algorithm?
YouTube uses an algorithm to analyse views
and choose which videos are suggested and trend more on the site. Although we
don’t know how this site works exactly, there are some things we do know about
view counting and better performance of a video on YouTube and Google.
Some Tips to be kept in Mind while Streaming
Don't act like a robot
The views may not end up getting counted if you show robot
behaviour i.e. if you repeat the same task again and again. Instead of
destroying the replay button, search for the MV manually, turn off your auto
play, browse, change up and don’t watch the same thing over and over again. If
YouTube marks you as a bot all the views from your account will be deleted and
this means there was no point of you sitting for hours watching the same MV
again and again. Therefore, be human.
Slow down the comments
Don’t overdo comments. Yes, it is good to have to have many
comments on the MVs as it helps them rank higher but YouTube won’t count the
views of accounts that leave too many comments of one video as they see this as
bot behaviour. Please don’t leave too many comments back to back otherwise
there is no point of you streaming the song for hours together.
Although many people claim that watching only 30 seconds is enough for it to be counted as a view, only YouTube knows what is the exact time required. One thing is for sure that views play an important role in the success of the video. YouTube doesn’t care much about the views but the videos with better watch time rank higher. More watch time means that the video has good content. Anyway, might as well watch the video till the end.
By this I mean don’t keep on skipping forward just to watch
your favourite part and don’t hit the replay button at the end of the video. It
is ok to rewind and pause the video. Rewinding some parts is actually helpful
as it shows that the video has some good content that is worth re-watching some
parts. So, all those foreheads showing and abs scenes that we all keep on
rewinding again and again, keep them going! Also closing the tab with a MV open
can hurt the performance of your favourites so it’s better to open another
video and then close YouTube.
Minimum volume quality
There is no need for the volume to be more than 50% like
claimed by many people. Volume does not affect the views of the video. You can
keep the volume low but don’t keep the video mute completely. When it comes to
video quality, it doesn’t have to be HD but it would great if the quality was
kept at 480p.
Avoid using playlists
Firstly, it might get marked as bot behaviour and secondly
playlists views are recorded after a period of time, sometimes even after a
day. So, if you want to break the 24-hour record title or if you just want your
favourites to win shows, AVOID PLAYLISTS.
Multiple Tabs
There is no point streaming on different tabs of the same
browser as the views will counted as one. It is better to stream the same video
from different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera). Only one account per browser
can add views.
3) Voting
Voting is one problem every international fan has faced at
least once. From problems like the page being in Korean to not being able to
vote just because you’re an international fan (yes, I’m still salty cuz I
couldn’t vote for Samuel during Produce 101 and the boy deserves the world). Anyway,
I’ve done some digging and a lot of research on how us international fans can
vote. Before we begin, let's break down the music shows that artists appear on
during their promotions period (in KST):
- SBS
MTV The Show (Tuesdays @ 6:30PM)
- MBC
MUSIC Show Champion (Wednesdays @ 7PM)
- Mnet
M!Countdown (Thursdays @ 6PM)
- KBS
Music Bank (Fridays @ 5PM)
- MBC
Music Core (Saturdays @ 3:30PM)
- SBS
Inkigayo (Sundays @ 12:10PM)
How to Vote on The Show:
Airs- 6:30PM KST on
Tuesdays
Voting - Download official Starpass app
Voting for The Show
is in two parts: pre-vote and live voting
Pre-voting period -
takes place before the episode in question airs. The pre-voting period is
always Friday 8 p.m. KST (4 days before broadcast) - Monday 2 p.m. KST (1 day
before broadcast).
Step 1 : Make an account
Step 2: after making an account, you will need to do activities
in-app in order to build "starpoints" which can then be turned into
votes. 30 starpoints = 3 vote
Step 3: To convert your starpoints into votes, all you need to do is
open the left panel (via the top left of the screen) and click "starpoint
status". Once you click that, there should be an option that states
"convert to The Show vote". Click that and you're all set!
Due to the 500 per day starpoint cap, you can technically
vote for your favorite artist up to 50 times a day during the pre-voting
period.
Live Show Period: Only vote 3 times per
account during the live voting period, which is Tuesday @ 6:35 PM KST, and ends
Tuesday @ 7:30 PM KST. You can only vote for
your favorite artist during this period if they are one of the first place
nominees.
How to Vote on Show Champion:
Airs- 7 PM KST on Wednesday
Voting - Download official Idol Champ App
Voting types: Pre-voting only
Pre-voting period - Tuesday 12:01AM (8 days before broadcast) – Sunday 11:59PM (3 days before
broadcast).
Once
you make an account, you will always have 3 votes a day to use during the
pre-voting period. The way to vote is super simple. Just click on
"vote" on the taskbar on the bottom of the app's screen, and then
scroll until you see the "Show Champion" banner. Click on that, cast
your vote, and that's it!
How to Vote on M! Countdown:
Airs- 6 PM KST on Thursdays
Voting - Official website
Voting type: Pre-vote and live voting
Pre-voting period - The pre-voting period is always Friday 2 p.m. KST (6 days before broadcast) - Monday 9 p.m. KST (3 days before broadcast).
Step 1 : Go the officail website for International fans
Step 2: cast your vote (one vote per day only)
Live Show Period: vote once via the site or through text, with the voting period being during
the time of broadcast. To send a vote via text to M!Countdown, you need to text
+82 0082 2566 with your favorite artist's Korean name or Japanese name in the
body of the text.
How to Vote on Inkigayo:
Airs- 6 PM KST on Thursdays
Voting - MELON AZTALK APP
Voting type: Pre-voting
Pre-voting period - Pre-voting
is open from Monday 12:01AM (13 days before broadcast) - Saturday 11:59PM KST
(8 days before broadcast).
Since the app is only available on Korean Play/app
store, you have to change your phone to Korean and timezone to Korea/change iOS
store to South Korea. Download the app and then you can turn back your phone to
normal settings.
When you have created your account, click the panel in the
top right of your screen. You will see : "SBS 인기가요 투표". Click on it and you will
see a list of different artists. Click on your favorite artist to cast your
vote.
You can only vote for 3 artists a day during this voting
period. The wording is intentional, meaning that you cannot cast all your votes
for your favorite artist. You have to vote for your favorite artist + 2 other
artists.
4) Report sasaengs
'Sasaeng Fans' are driven to horrifying extents - some older
and some younger. They take stalking their favorite idols far beyond normal,
for some it becomes their lives. There are even taxis that cater to these fans
and wait outside of celebrity home or broadcasting stations. They do anything
just to get the superstar's attention - may it be negative, some would even
feel pride in causing their idol pain (thinking thoughts as - "He now has
a bruise, that I made!") Korean idols have to revolve their lives around
having to avoid, or even escape these fans. As international fans, there are many be times we might feel helpless but we can always help report a Sasaeng to the company the idol belongs to. companies have decided to take action against sasaengs and have told fans to send mails regarding these Sasaengs; so that they can be blacklisted. Eg: Bighit has an email protect@bighitcorp.com to report sasaengs and so does every other company.
5) Fanmail
"How can I? They only understand Korean whereas I don't know Korean" Everyone's first thought right? Don't worry I got you! @kpop_Letter on Twitter sends fan mail to your idols for free and this person will even actually send the letter for you for only $5, completely translated to proper Korean, so you don't need to struggle with Google translate anymore (we've all been there haven't we) :
These letters can then be mailed to the idol's company, most of the companies accept these fan letters.
6) Donations
More and more
fandoms are choosing to support their idols by doing good in the world, like
making monetary donations to charities as a way of celebrating their favorite
idols’ birthdays or anniversaries. For instance, in 2016, the fans of Infinite
member Hoya donated 5 million won ($4,430) to Love Snail, an organization
supporting those with impaired hearing, in honor of the singer’s birthday; fans
of SHINEE’s Jonghyun refused to let his birthday go un-commemorated after his
death and donated a generous amount to LGBTQ Youth Center Dding Dong.
7) Ads for special Occasions
From local subway billboards in Seoul to New York’s Times Square billboards, faces of idols can be seen all over the world. Black Pink’s Lisa was featured on multiple Times Square billboards for her 21st birthday, adding to the list of idols like EXO’s Lay, BTS’ V and Jimin. As for SHINee’s 10th anniversary, fans spared no expense and sponsored a large Times Square billboard in May as well as several posters featured in Seoul’s subways. We should try this in India too!
8) Radio Requests
There are a few radio stations that do play K-pop songs but only if there is a mass request. The aim should be to get your idol's song to play on as many radio stations as possible. this can be done by mass tweet, call or messages. some radio stations that play K-pop songs are
- 94.3 Radio
- Chennai Live 104.8 FM
- Indigo 91.9 FM
- Radio City 91.1 FM
- 91.9 Friends FM
So go ahead, get your fandom ready and start mass requesting!
It may seem hard and it is hard being a K-pop international fan especially when you see videos of K-pop idols with K-fans at fansigns but to get the opportunities that K-fans get we have to work a little harder to get recognized. It may take sometime but we can definitely do it! FIGHTING!!
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