A record shop in Seoul is shown in this file photo. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) — About half of all K-pop fans bought albums to collect celebrity goods, and not for the music itself, a survey showed Tuesday.
The Korea Consumer Agency conducted a survey of 500 consumers said they had used a a paid K-pop fandom service, which showed that they purchased albums (78.9 percent), photo cards (55.6 percent), and cheering equipment (43.4 percent) 4.7 times on average per year.
While 27.6 percent spent between 50,000-100,000 won (US$37.84-75.67) on celebrity goods, there were a few who spent more than 1 million won (2.8 percent) on them.
Among those surveyed, 75.9 percent purchased albums to collect them, while 52.7 percent bought albums to collect celebrity goods, and 25.4 percent bought them to apply for special events.
A total of 194 individuals bought albums to acquire random celebrity goods. They bought the same album 4.1 times on average. Some bought the same album as many as 90 times.
Another 102 people among those surveyed bought the same album 6.7 times to apply for special events. Some bought the same album as many as 80 times.
At 83.8 percent, the vast majority of survey respondents said if they used audio or video streaming platforms to listen to K-pop music.
Only 5.7 percent said they listened to CDs.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
