Audio Meets Visual: The Global Social Media entity that is BTS There are a number of celebrities who use social media as a tool for marketing themselves such as Kim Kardashian or to manipulate the media like the US President Donald Trump (which can also be argued that it may have caused him to win the 2016 election, Trump had particular focus on the media and his opponents than on actual political issues when compared to his opponents in 2016). One example includes BTS, a South Korean pop group. They have experienced a continual rise in popularity that can be attributed to their social media presence. This can be attributed to their use of their visual team (through Lumpens and their stylists) to create a cohesive storyline structure that compliments their musical style. BTS is a South Korean Pop group formed in 2011. However, they debuted in 2013 with the son No More Dream. They are known for writing and producing their own songs, which often have socially conscious lyrics tackling issues such as mental illness, loneliness, female empowerment, and exploitation of Youth. BTS' twitter account was created on the 13th of July 2011, two years prior to their official debut in the Korean Pop industry. As of April 26, 2018, they have amassed over 14 million Twitter followers. (14,340,173) (with the largest number of Twitter followers among the KPop genre, yes...more than Psy), the group was also named one of the most influential people on the internet (by Times Magazine. The group is effective in utilising their presence throughout social media, which is shown through their vast variety of media that is continually put out by the group (as well as their company) which includes: music videos; song covers (via Soundcloud); short video logs; a youtube series; streaming services (on Naver VLive) as well as two other related twitter accounts, an Instagram, and two Youtube channels which are used to post official content about the group (such as album teasers, News articles and Music Videos). In addition to a large amount of content that the group produces (tweets, videos, song lyrics etc.) a number of accounts for English (as well as Arabic, Spanish, French, etc.) subtitled content is available online (often these subtitles are created by fans). Worth mentioning about translation sites (particularly those on YouTube) is that BTS' company does not submit copyright claims on these separate channels that use their videos and place subtitles on them. This is possibly as their marketing (or advertising?) team knows that from keeping these videos up will benefit them in gaining a wider audience and following globally. (the company may also gain revenue through these youtube Fansub channels) Google Trends BTS (Blue) v Exo (Red, a KPop group of similar standing). The peaks are often new music releases. However, the peak between March to July is just after the 2016 BBMA's from interest post-ceremony. As seen in this graph BTS have quite a diverse range of interest globally (particularly in the Americas, Europe, Russia and Australia) and Exo has interesting pockets of searches coming from the Middle East, particularly Iran, Iraq, and Tunisia. Also worth noting is that China has a block on Google, however, based on Exo's Chinese fanbase they would be the dominant force in China.Their largest boom within the public sphere of social media can be attributed to the end of 2016 to early 2017. Where they came back with 2 hit songs Blood, Sweat & Tears and Spring Day, as well as scoring a nomination in the Billboard Music Awards (which was held on the 21st of May 2017), which they had received due to the combination of Topping the Billboard Social 50 chart (up to 11 consecutive weeks at one stage prior to the BBMA's), music sales (digital and streaming) as well as social media interactions (twitter mentions and hashtags, youtube views). This western focused boom can also be seen in the number of Western outlets and charts that have picked up on the wave that is BTS (NYT, Forbes, Billboard, Huffington Post). The group has charted in countries that include: the United States; Canada; the United Kingdom and Australia (they are, as far as I know, the first KPop group to actually chart on one of Australia's two main ARIA Charts at #8, as well as the digital album chart), as well as charting #1 on the albums chart in 78 different countries) The exposure that the BBMA's granted them has allowed the group to branch out into collaborations with artists that they may not have had the chance to prior to attending these awards (such as a collaboration with The Chainsmokers and an upcoming collaboration with Steve Aoki as well as more Western artists expressing an interest in collaborating with BTS).
Since their rise to prominence in the US during may this year, BTS has just recently (in September) released their fifth Mini Album (EP) Love Yourself: Her to immense success, with over one million units (physical) sold within the first month, as well as charting well (compared to other KPop groups) on both main Billboard charts. From the immense success that this group has gained over the past few years (especially 2016-17) has had a great effect on how the media (particularly in Korea) view groups from small companies do not often have the level of success that larger companies such as SM and YG acquire, perhaps the emergence of BTS, as the poster child for Big Hit stands out as an icon for smaller companies, if they ever do wish to emulate the success of companies that are much larger than them.
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