ARMY Spends Money: Here's Why That TERRIFIES An Entire Industry

[BY POLL RESULT!]

INTRODUCTION

He*dline Plan*t's Br*an C*ntor made an astute observation the other day:

I suspect this is subtlely meant to address certain takes about the ongoing success of "Dynamite." Some people, (incredibly) are attempting to dismiss the success of the single as due solely to the buying and streaming efforts of ARMY.

Meanwhile, others acknowledge that there has to be some genuine popularity among non-ARMY ("general public" or casual listeners) in order to hit the roof of B*llboard's Hot 100 not once, but twice.

While BTS gaining mainstream, non-fandom support is expected for as long as they've been known by the American public at this point, there are those who stubbornly insist that nobody is listening to BTS except their fandom.

I guess they think nobody ever *became* an ARMY.

This POV exists largely to dismiss BTS's place in the current world of American pop culture and pretending they don't have the mainstream popularity that other Western artists enjoy.

It's a desperate attempt to avoid the fact that BTS is selling circles around everyone.

Not only that but by pinning BTS's recent Hot 100 success almost exclusively on ARMY, they can claim that BTS doesn't have true mainstream general public support.

Unfortunately for the gatekeepers, they've introduced a theory that works against them in nightmarish fashion.

You see, if ARMY is indeed 90 to 100 percent responsible for "Dynamite" earning #1 on Hot 100 for two weeks running...you just admitted to the most organized, paranoid, and spend-happy fandom on Earth that we're officially strong enough to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart at WILL.

ARMY POP QUIZ!

The music industry and media is saying that ARMY can, if we spend enough, ALWAYS guarantee at least a week at #1 whenever we want.

What is ARMY likely to do with this information?

If this theory is proven to be true (as ARMY are always testing the limits of our spending power and impact), the entire US music industry will collectively crap its pants.

The implications would be simply breath-taking.

CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP (SPENDING)

While I remain skeptical, let's say it's true that ARMY is now so large and organized that we can spend our way to a #1 on Hot 100 for BTS.

Because everyone else pretty much relies on monster streams and radio support (neither of which is as potent as outright sales), it would mean that nobody else, no matter WHO they are, should hope to compete with a BTS single/album release for at least a couple of weeks.

We will absolutely strategize our way into making sure fandom members make as many purchases as necessary to hit the desired goal, as with everything else. We will not be tricked into spending less or gaslighted into thinking our strategy is weird, wrong, or unfair.

The one thing others should know about us, if they know nothing else is that nothing is going to get in the way of buying BTS's music. (Except BTS, when they decide to release it for free. So, basically, only BTS really has that power. )

Bottom line: If it becomes emphatically clear that the secret to #1 is hitting a certain sales benchmark, ARMY is probably the only fandom in the world at this present time that is both willing and able to do what it takes to hit those sales numbers.

Monster streams cannot compete with monster sales. This is the lesson that EVERYONE should have learned from the past two weeks. Flop stans can shade all day every day on social media, but they'll never talk louder than money.

And money is a language ARMY speaks.

CONSEQUENCES

The record labels and related insiders can only do so much manipulating. As Skittles the Snitch demonstrated, angry artists wronged by such antics will always be ready and willing to spill the beans.

But ARMY is not a record label. We are fans and despite whatever labels people want to associate with that, the reality is that we ARE the buying public. We're just very organized corner of it that united to express our support using money.

Additionally, as long as we follow the rules as laid out, we can spend as much money as we want to and nobody can stop us without making the kind of chart changes that would make artists go absolutely nuclear (but that's for another thread).

Rather than attacking ARMY as a fandom that goes above and beyond to buy, we should be asking ourselves at what point did fandoms begin to express their power by failing to financially support the artists they claim to stan.

I actually witnessed a stan comforting other stans by promoting streaming as the medium of proving its popularity. In reality, streaming hurts artists' pockets.

A LOT. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/streaming-platforms-keeping-more-money-from-artists-than-ever-817925/

But without fans willing to come out in force and help them out digitally, ARMY is making it glaringly obvious what they're missing out on.

While some people might be able to convince themselves that no artists care about the charts, the reality is that quite a few do. And they acknowledge landing that BB #1 on the album or singles chart is very tough. https://www.xxlmag.com/hip-hop-no-1-billboard-charts/

It's why some labels and artists get caught going to very shady lengths to secure it.

But the consequence of leaning on antics and not cultivating a strong, organic buying force in the form of a fandom is that there's no reprieve if ARMY really gets so strong that we-

are able to block pretty much anyone from #1 on the album AND singles chart at the same time.

Suddenly months of planning and expensive strategies are in danger of going out the window.

ARMY is moving to checkmate an industry on two fronts:

(1) demonstrating that an artist is ultimately only as big as the fandom behind them (and that "gp" power is fleeting and often nonexistent.

(2) proving the ridiculousness of normalizing a method of consumption that robs artists of their worth among fandoms who somehow feel that it's the best way to support them. What happens when artists look at BTS and ARMY and start making industry-shaking observations?

CONCLUSION: OUTLIER OR HARBINGER?

It's possible ARMY is the next level of fan, fully understanding our buying power and flexing whenever we want to. Or we could be a very unique fandom, and therefore very hard to compete with.

I don't even know if that "guaranteed #1" thing is true, though I don't doubt ARMY will go for it every chance we get.

The one thing I'm confident of is that ARMY is becoming one of the most powerful forces in the world of music.

Some find that scary, but I personally find it encouraging. After all, if the loudest voice in the American music industry is that of the fan, how exactly is it a bad thing?

/THE END