Manipulation of music chart rankings stirs up controversy

A recent report about professional brokers manipulating music chart rankings is stirring up much controversy.

The issue surrounding the method of ‘album hoarding’, used by middlemen to fabricate music charts rankings, was investigated on the most recent episode of SBS‘ ‘One Night of TV Entertainment‘.

One broker revealed, “This has been done many times. There is no risk, and the business is located in China.” He continued, “It can raise an album’s position on music charts. If that is the goal then the cost will begin at around 100,000,000 KRW (~$87,000 USD), which is why only big companies do this. Even reaching the  first place spot is possible. If you want to snatch the #1 spot as soon as the song/album is released, you’re looking to invest an amount that exceeds $87,000. However, it must be done subtly or you will get caught.”

The middlemen create fake IDs to buy the albums in bulk, which in turn raises the albums’ ranks on music charts. In the case of new artists, they slowly increase their rank from 50th, 30th, 20th, and eventually to 1st over a long-term period as it’s a process that is carefully thought out.

Another specialist revealed that he helped an anonymous girl group get to the #1 spot on SBS‘ ‘Inkigayo‘ by using this method. He expressed, “It costs around 150 million Won ($130,000 USD) to get a group to retain a position around 7th through 15th place for a month,” while also revealing that since entertainment agencies can collect funding to pay the brokers through the album sales, they use this approach.

Notably, another professional middleman revealed that even real-time search keyword fabrication was possible. The broker stated, “Raising the position of a real-time keyword is expensive. It’s around [$4,300 USD] per hour. For peak time periods, it is around [$7,000 USD] per hour.”

However, in response to the situation, one music site representative spoke up saying, “This is impossible. The website has a name authorization system, a purchase limit for each ID, and even an expenditure limit. Buyers are also constrained from buying the same album with the same ID. I’m curious as to how this can be possible.”

Source + Image: MyDaily via Naver