SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Several unidentified boxes sat in front of the headquarters of Hybe, the entertainment agency behind BTS, on April 21.
It later turned out that it was a part of the “K-pop for Planet” event designed to celebrate Earth Day on April 22 as well as to demand that K-pop idol entertainment companies focus on “eco-friendly K-pop.”
K-pop for Planet is a platform created by idol fans under the slogan of “No K-pop On a Dead Planet.” This platform proposes that entertainment companies host low carbon concerts and mobilize artists to respond to the climate crisis.
The platform received a donation of 8,027 copies of unused physical albums from K-pop fans throughout the country for one month in March.
The donated CDs were sent to each entertainment company, casting a message that album producers should take responsibility even for the recycling of the waste generated after use.
In a box sent to Hybe was a message saying, “Hey, are you using this planet alone?”
In fact, physical CDs are made of a plastic called polycarbonate that takes 1 million years to decompose naturally in landfills.
Nonetheless, entertainment businesses are selling idol CDs together with their photo cards.
Since photo cards are random for each album, K-pop fans need to buy several copies of CDs to have the photo card of their favorite members.
According to music market tracker Gaon Chart, the number of physical albums from the top 400 singers stood at more than 57 million last year, up 36.9 percent year on year.
K-pop fans who care about the earth are pointing out such problems to entertainment companies who are engaged in selling physical albums.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
