Fandom Culture in K-pop (2017)

The growth of Hallyu – also known as the Korean Wave, a term now widely used to refer to the popularity of Korean entertainment and culture across Asia and other parts of the world[1] – in recent years has not only seen some K-pop idol groups skyrocketing to fame, but also perpetuated a unique fan culture at the same time. In this paper, I will touch briefly on the positive impact that K-pop has on fans’ lives and then elaborate more on the distinct features of the K-pop fandom, as well as show how crucial the fandom is to an idol’s (including, and especially with regards to, idol groups) success. I will also discuss the unique gift-giving subculture in K-pop and its criticisms.

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For fans, K-pop is entertainment and diversion from the more stressful aspects of life, but also a source of happiness and strength, new community of friends as well as motivation to pursue their own ambitions. In an online Hallyu Kpop Survey by Crystal S. Anderson[2], a fan mentioned that K-pop “unite[s] all of the fans from worldwide” and “helps [them] to … meet new friends”. Other fans stated that K-pop music cheers them up when they are feeling down and helps them to get through difficult times. Another fan professed that K-pop “gives her strength to pursue her passions and goals”.

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While K-pop and the fandom mostly impacts the personal aspect of the fans’ lives, for idols, the fandom quite literally makes their career. Of course, it cannot be denied that fan support is likely to positively impact an idol’s personal life by providing them with much-needed encouragement in the midst of their tough schedules and training. However, the prominence of the fandom’s impact on an idol’s career far outweighs that of his or her personal life.

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I. How the Fandom makes the Idols’ Career

 

Firstly, the fandom significantly boosts the sales of an idol’s albums and merchandise. In this digital age where everything is so readily available online and one can easily – most times illegally – stream and download songs, physical albums are mostly bought by hardcore fans (sometimes colloquially referred to as “stans”) of the particular singer or group. The truth is that most people do not buy albums for the purpose of playing the CDs and listening to the songs, but rather to support their favourite idols and obtain the exclusive merchandise that accompanies most, if not all, K-pop albums these days. The fandom culture also promotes the buying of albums and other merchandise through an implicit crowd pressure. The buzz from other fans on social media upon receiving their albums and accompanying merchandise (commonly referred to as “fangirling” or “spazzing”) gets one hyped up and boosts their desire of owning the physical album and merchandise as well. This could be partly due to a sense of obligation being part of the fandom, but also partly due to increased temptation from the greater exposure to such merchandise. Moreover, in the K-pop fandom, purchasing is made even more convenient by the fact that local group orders are organized in many countries so as to save on shipping fees by buying in bulk from Korea.

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Secondly, the fandom plays a crucial role in promoting the group online and in real life, as well as support them in winning music shows and other awards such as the Golden Disk Award .etc On Twitter, it is commonplace to see “stans”, which refers to the hardcore fans of a particular group or artiste, promote their favourite idols through threads such as “Why you should stan XXX” or simply by posting videos showcasing their talent with a relevant caption such as “their dance synchronization is amazing as always”. When other fans retweet these posts, it could appear on the timelines of people who are not fans of the particular group, and these posts would then serve as great promotional tools. I believe this type of promotion is also especially effective as they are created out of a genuine desire to spread appreciation for the idols and hence, the promotion is not done conspicuously as in other promotional materials such as commercials or posters, but rather through social connections. To help their favourite idols win on music shows, fans come together to create tutorials on how to support their idols such that they win by analyzing the ranking system on music shows. For example, there would be tutorials on how one should stream the music video on YouTube such that their views would be counted into the charts, how foreign fans can help to vote through international texting and online voting, as well as how one can obtain passes to stream the songs on the streaming portal MelOn .etc. Some shows such as Show Champion and Music Bank consider the trending of specific Twitter hashtags (usually the artiste or song name) into their ranking systems. As such, fandoms will gather to trend those hashtags within a specific time period to push up the points in that particular category so as to help their favourite idols win.

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Lastly, the fandom culture and community helps to sustain fan interest in the group, especially and most importantly, over low activity periods. This is done through the creation and proliferation of fanmade content such as fanmade music or lyric videos, fancams (videos taken by fans of the idols, usually focusing on a specific member), fan accounts (personal anecdotes given by fans on their encounter with the idols), fanart, fanfiction (fictional stories starring the idols), as well as fansubs, screencaps and GIFs based off videos that the idols have appeared in (e.g. variety shows, interviews). Fan translators also post translations of Korean fanaccounts, magazine interviews, the idols’ SNS posts and news .etc. Personally, I feel that these fansubbers and translators help to boost the group’s international popularity by giving the international fanbase access to a larger amount of fandom-related content, which consistently stimulates fan interest in the idols as well as perpetuate it. This is in contrast with the J-pop industry, in which English-subbed videos, especially of interviews or variety shows, are less common.

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II. Structure of a Fandom: Fanbases and Fansites

 

Moving on to the structure of a fandom, almost every fandom will have at least one international fanbase. In fact, many fandoms have multiple fanbases, including a specific one for each particular country. Fanbases are accounts that are usually shared by a few “admins” consisting of various dedicated fans – unlike personal accounts, they have a “formal” touch to them and are focused on providing regular updates of a group, including their schedules, SNS updates, fan projects and official news. Another prominent feature in K-pop fandoms is the presence of fansites, which are accounts and websites run by fans dedicated to taking high definition photos and videos of idols – usually focusing on one or two particular members of a group. A fandom can have up to hundreds of fansites, including several with a large following. For example, as of June 2017, the largest fansite is SNOWPEACH, a fansite for BTS’ Jungkook, with a then Twitter following of 751K (which has since increased to 896K in August 2017, in just a short duration of two months)[3]. With such impressive follower counts, it’s not a surprise that fansites play a more significant role than merely post beautiful photos and videos. Large fansites also regularly organize fan supports for events such as the idol’s birthday, drama filming, group comebacks and concerts.

 

III. Jogong, K-pop’s Gift-giving Subculture

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In this way, fansites are a major contributer to “Jogong”, K-pop’s gift-giving subculture[4]. There is the philanthropic side of gifting, in which fans chip in to make charity donations on behalf of their favourite idols – these may be monetary donations, or even the donation of rice wreaths or facilities to the needy[5]. For example, in November 2016, Super Junior’s official fan club E.L.F donated 110 kilograms of rice and 1,106 packages of ramen to the Salvation Army to mark the group’s 11th anniversary. Fans of Infinite’s Hoya have also funded the construction of a water pump station in Cambodia in his name, in both 2015 and 2017, as a meaningful way to celebrate his birthday[6]. Another seemingly altruistic trend in Jogong is the planting of trees as a means of fan support. This was first introduced by the Korean start-up “Tree Planet”, which raises funds through mobile games and a crowdfunding platform with the aim of planting trees around the world. Upon noticing the trend of users naming trees after K-pop stars, Tree Planet suggested for fanclubs to plant whole swathes of trees for their favourite celebrities, resulting in the idea of crowdfunding for “Star Forests” – areas usually within a Seoul park that are fitted with the idol’s birthday tree or trees with blossoms of the star’s favorite color[7]. In this way, fandoms promote sustainability while expressing support for their idols.

 

However, most dominant fansites’ fan supports are less philanthropic and more individual-focused, showering their idols with love and attention by sponsoring food trucks (e.g. at filming sets or concert venues), gathering message books and through the extravagant yet common practice of purchasing display space on subway banners, buses and even billboards. Fansites raise funds for these supports by producing their own support goods (merchandise utilizing photos or graphics from that particular fansite) and selling them to other fans. This is commonly expressed as merely gifts for other fans’ kind donations to the fan support, but in reality, works just like regular sales of merchandise, where fans pay, rather than “donate”, so as to get the goods that they desire. Some of these fan supports have been criticized to be too extravagant and even burdensome for both fans and the idols[8]. For example, fans of Infinite’s Sunggyu have joked about how he could possibly fill up an empty apartment with all the furniture and home appliances that fansites bought for his 29th birthday this year (2017)[9]. These extravagant gifts include a sofa set, bedding, a furniture set, a home theater package, a built-in sauna, a drying steamer and a coffee machine[10]. While it is understandable that one would desire to express affection to their favourite idol as much as possible, it is debatable whether such expenditure is worth it or even justified. As briefly mentioned earlier, in spite of the joy from receiving gifts, idols could feel an “undue pressure” to “repay the gesture” as they “find themselves subservient to the ‘generosity’ of fans”. A representative from Cube Entertainment also clearly stated, “It puts us in an uncomfortable situation when fans give excessive gifts. The company will return gifts that we feel are too much and try to lead them to giving to charities instead.”[11] The group VIXX themselves have even stepped out to discourage such extravagant gifts, requesting that “no gifts be given outside of fan written letters”, and encouraged their fans to donate to charity in their name instead[12].

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Conclusion

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While all the complexities of K-pop fandom culture are too vast to be covered in the short span of this paper, it is clear that the fandom is critical to the success of K-pop idols, given how intricately fan support is integrated into the assessment of an idol’s success, through physical and digital album sales, as well as music show and award wins. However, fan support can sometimes become overwhelming when it involves extravagant gifts, and fans could practice more discernment such that their affection doesn’t become overbearing to the idols or at the expense of other important aspects of their own personal lives. As with all other gray areas, it’s a difficult yet important balance to achieve.

 

 

Citations

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[1] Hallyu (Korean Wave). (n.d.). Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Culture-and-the-Arts/Hallyu

[2] Anderson, C. S. (n.d.). Hallyu Kpop Survey Results (as of 6/15/11). Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://kpopkollective.com/2011/06/15/hallyu-kpop-survey-results-as-of-61511/

[3] M. (2017, June 3). These Are the Most Followed Male and Female Focused Fansites in Kpop. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://www.moonrok.com/most-followed-male-female-fansites-kpop/

[4] A. (2014, April 23). To Idol, With Love: K-pop's Gift Economy. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://seoulbeats.com/2014/04/idol-love-k-pops-gift-economy/

[5] Hammeke, K. (2017, February 20). Planting Rainforests and Donating Rice: The Fascinating World of K-pop Fandom. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://koreaexpose.com/fascinating-world-k-pop-fandom-culture/

[6] M. (2017, February 24). Donations Under the Name of Hoya. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://aminoapps.com/page/inspirit-official/7975447/donations-under-the-name-of-hoya

[7] Ramirez, E. (2015, August 12). Startup plants forests with crowdfunding, mobile game. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://www.techinasia.com/tree-planet-korea-crowdfunded-forests

[8] Refer to note 4.

[9] Fan Support for Infinite's Sunggyu's 29th Birthday. (2017, April 28). Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://twitter.com/gyuyomizizi/status/857932183704485888

[10] F. (2017, April 28). Sunggyu's Birthday Gifts! Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://aminoapps.com/page/inspirit-official/3393192/sunggyus-birthday-gifts

[11] Refer to note 4.

[12] F. (2013, September 30). Regarding to Gifts at VIXX’s “The Milky Way” Showcase. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://fyeah-vixx.com/post/62626137020/regarding-to-gifts-at-vixxs-the-milky-way