My take on the recent @Forbes article [the one w/ the JNope reference] on JHope's Hope World release is that it missed the point. And here is why. +++
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First, instead of focusing on the inherent value of the album it focused on the fandom organic move of holding off on the purchase in order to give it a fighting chance on the Billboard chart.
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Assuming that the real intent of the article was to highlight that move, then it missed the point again. The last phrase “How it does will likely see a response from ARMY and be taken into account regarding future @BTS_twt releases, ++

and may result in a trend where other fandoms similarly attempt to control purchasing power to see results on the charts” does not sit well with most ARMYS. It assumes that what we did will impact how @BTS_twt /BH even BB will act in the foot of this consumer behavior.

I’ll step back and take myself out of that context and look at what the writer missed out and what I think would have been better topics for discourse in Forbes.
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First, the shifts in consumer behavior. To begin with, the Mixtape was available for free. The first major topic that Forbes should have written about was why are ARMYs buying something free?
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This unprecedented behavior is a stuff business case, graduate dissertations are made off. It would have yielded an article that could have pushed further studies into this phenomenon and change the course of Marketing & Sales altogether. And yet they regretfully missed that.

Second, because it’s a Mixtape, clearly BTS/BH had no intent of it charting at all. It was released in the tradition of @BTS_twt mixtape's as a cathartic release for the artist, an opportunity for them to introduce who they are musically outside of the group ++

and thus further their connection with the fandom. The next interesting topic of discourse would have been “how is it possible that a Mixtape, outnumbered 1 the group’s mini-album LY:Her on iTunes?”
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Is it a testament to the growth of the fandom or an increasing popularity amongst the general public? We wouldn’t know because nobody studied, thought about it and wrote about it.

Third, it was clear that ARMY had free-will to do what they wanted to do when the Mixtape drops [thus it hit #1 on several countries including the US].
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But every other ARMY stateside knew that they can opt to download the song for free when it drops, stream on platforms and buy the song the next day . It was a shared consciousness that surfaced and was reinforced by several bigger accounts.

In short, even before big accounts recommended it, US ARMYs already knew at the back of their head that it was the smart thing to do. And individual accounts were already convincing other ARMYs to do it, even before big accounts stepped in.

And this shared consciousness is fueled by the fandom’s understanding of how the world of music works. This is a testament to the amount of study that we put into these things and how organically we come up with insights that are common across every other ARMY.

So it was not driven by 1 entity but was a collective insight that was captured and reflected back into the fandom, wouldn’t this phenomenon of FANDOM STRATEGIC MOVES be a more interesting read?

It contributes to our understanding of this generations consumer behavior and thus start conversations on how companies can eventually translate that into their own Marketing/Business Development and Sales strategy in the future. That sounds more like a Forbes-worthy read.

Forbes is very powerful brand. It is highly associated with deep thinking founded on cross-discipline areas of study [business, philosophy, psychology, sociology and more].
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It would be such a shame if they lose track of who they are and what they can contribute to the world through their platform.
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In a world where everything is so fast that people don’t think deeply about things, Forbes can offer that alternative of shedding light into topics that would have normally fallen into the cracks.
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The real question is should you fear these kinds of fandom strategic moves or should you understand it as it could be signs of shifts on what motivates buying & consuming decision? Is this the future of consumerism? Customer-driven, intrinsically motivated?

Understanding it, and watching it unfold will yield useful insight that could possibly be translated into increasing company customer loyalty