On the 29th, the latest album of the Bulletproof Youth League BTS, "Proof", the deluxe collector's edition entity, opened pre-sale, and the price was about 1520 yuan. After calculation, netizens found that the price of the album exceeded the standard and weighed 22 pounds, and the total cost of the album fee + postage + taxes may be as high as 3,000 yuan.
Some netizens speculated that this move is the crazy leek cutting behavior of BTS's company HYBE - because the two sides are about to terminate the contract, HYBE wants to do a hammer deal, so the BTS album pricing is one digit more than the normal price, which is a situation that has never occurred in the K-pop music scene. South Korean netizens are one-sidedly mocking HYBE Entertainment's leek cutting behavior, mocking BTS's album is made of gold.
But many Chinese fans are willing to pay, according to B station reports, BTS. V China Fan Club bought about 4.5 billion won (about 25 million yuan) of albums, rushing to the top of the Korean internet hot search, eye-catching. Baidu's "Jin Tai Heng Bar" ordered an overwhelming number of 40% of the total number of Chinese fans purchasing together.
High-priced albums in the music industry are actually not uncommon, but most of them are collectible or come with gifts, such as the Bulletproof Youth League's "Proof" sold at such a high price, which is rare.
High-priced albums tend to have additional collectible value
Previously, the price of the "Eldon's Ring of Law" vinyl soundtrack album exceeded 1,000 yuan, and the sales limit was 6999 sets, including 4 sets of 8 records, covering the complete game soundtrack. In addition, each set of records will also be accompanied by a 30×30cm art painting, with an independent number, which is collectible for interested players.
Not long ago, singer Wang Xinling became popular for participating in "Sister Riding the Wind and Waves", and his old album "My! The price of Cyndi was speculated to more than 3,000 Taiwan dollars, and the hardcover version soared to nearly 8,000 Taiwan dollars, equivalent to 1819 yuan. Then its brokerage company said: "Thank you for your support of Xinling, I hope that everyone can respond rationally and do not waste money on the goods that are hyped by people with hearts." "The implication is that someone is taking advantage of the opportunity.
At present, there are not a few sky-high-priced albums sold on Taobao, most of which are collectible or difficult to find music albums in the early years, such as Jacky Cheung's "Awake Dreaming" vinyl record 1,000 yuan; Jay Chou's early release of "Still Fantasia", "Qilixiang", "Chopin in November" tapes, priced at 3570 yuan; Singer Bai Xue's first solo album released in 1994, priced at 6920 yuan; The first edition of Han Baoyi's "Pink Memories" released in 1991 was priced at 37920 yuan, but the sales volume was almost zero. Wang Jie's past select album "A Masterpiece" is priced at 9999 yuan, showing that it has been sold out.
22 pounds of album into a "brick" episode?
Coincidentally, the fifth album of the Korean idol group EXO in 2018, "DON'T MESS UP MY TEMPO", weighed three pounds, and if each of the three versions came, it was 9 pounds, which also made netizens dumbfounded at the time, jokingly saying that this was not an album, but a "brick set", "or quite looking forward to this 'brick' set", and it was reported that the sales of this album exceeded 1 million copies.
The high price of the latest album "Proof" of the bulletproof youth group BTS and the weight of 22 kilograms can be called the "brick set" in the "brick set", which has caused netizens to discuss without suspense, "22 pounds Of this album is wearing body armor", "Small, the pattern is small, it should be priced at 100,000 yuan" "It is better to buy 22 kilograms of meat to eat at home"
High-priced album "One Willing to Fight One Wish To Suffer"?
Lu Shiwei, a well-known music critic, said in an interview with Beijing Youth Daily that BTS itself is an idol group, and the new album is packaged in this form, on the one hand, it may be to highlight personality, distinctiveness, or a special creativity; On the other hand, it may be to meet the needs of fan collection, the current physical album is actually more to meet this demand, as long as someone is willing to spend this money, "a willing to fight a wish, they can sell is their success, people who do not accept it do not buy it." Because, this 1520 yuan must also include a different cost than other ordinary albums. People who want to buy, more expensive, may feel valued, and people who don't want to buy may not be cheaper. This in itself is a two-way choice. ”
However, at the same time, industry insiders remind that fans should have a degree of star chasing, especially some students who have not yet earned income, they must chase stars rationally, especially not to compare consumption for star chasing.
Article/Reporter Shou Penghuan
Co-ordinator/Liu Jianghua