Annual Album Production Reaches 100 Million... Carbon Emissions Equal to 74 Trips Around the Earth
90% of Buyers Say "For Fan Signing Events and Collecting Extras"
Fans Driven into Debt by Repeated Duplicate Purchases for Fandom Marketing
Singer Lim Youngwoong is performing on stage at the IM HERO nationwide tour concert held at KINTEX Exhibition Hall 1, Hall 1 in January last year. Photo by Mulgogi Music
Singer Lim Youngwoong has decided to release his second full-length album, 'I'm Hero 2 (IM HERO 2),' without a physical CD. His agency, Fish Music, stated that this was "the artist's own will, considering environmental protection." It is extremely rare in the K-pop industry for a million-selling artist to release a full album without a physical CD. This decision is expected to mark a significant turning point regarding fandom consumption and resource waste issues.
◆Crying over duplicate purchases, CDs discarded without opening= K-pop CDs are consumed more as 'goods'?such as photocards, lottery tickets, and unreleased image books?rather than for listening to music. According to the '2024 Music Industry White Paper' by the Korea Creative Content Agency released on August 5, only 8.1% of all CD buyers actually played the CD to listen to music. Over 90% purchased CDs for fan signing event entries or to collect additional items. The proportion of buyers was particularly high among teenagers and those in their 60s.
Fans often make excessive duplicate purchases out of 'fansim'?the desire for their favorite artist to achieve good results. Kim Nayoun, a campaigner for the climate crisis response group 'Kpop4Planet,' said, "Fansim is complex. Fans keep buying albums out of support, but at the same time, there is also an awareness that change is needed." Entertainment agencies are aware of this issue, but since it is directly tied to profits, it is difficult for them to take action easily.
According to a survey by Kpop4Planet, 36.5% of fans made duplicate album purchases to collect photocards, and 27.7% did so to enter fan signing events. A significant number did not even open the albums, instead giving them away or discarding them. Idol fan Jo Eunji (20) said, "I bought 50 albums to enter a private fan signing event, but I never even opened the CDs." On secondhand trading applications, unopened new albums are commonly traded in this way.
In 2017, in Japan, a man who bought 585 CDs to obtain voting rights for girl group AKB48 illegally dumped them in a mountain area and was fined. In Korea as well, it is common for fans to buy dozens of albums and then return only the CDs to the agency. On social networking services (SNS), photos showing dozens of unopened CDs being sent back to agencies are frequently shared, sparking controversy.
Fans also face significant financial burdens. Boy group fan Yoon Hyebin (22) said, "I even went into credit card debt to buy hundreds of albums for a video call fan signing event. In the end, I couldn't even open the CDs and had to throw them away," revealing both psychological and economic stress. Some fans try to recoup some costs through secondhand sales, but demand in the used market is not high.
An entertainment agency official commented, "This is a decision only Lim Youngwoong could make," adding, "Realistically, it is not easy to give up releasing CDs." This is especially true for small and medium-sized agencies, for whom album sales are crucial. He said, "CD sales revenue and initial sales numbers are important for future marketing, so it is not easy to give them up," but also added, "Given the ongoing concerns raised by fandoms, we will internally consider alternatives."
◆100 million K-pop albums produced annually... Environment takes a back seat= The disposal of waste such as CDs and DVDs ultimately falls to local governments. According to the Ministry of Environment, the cost of processing such waste is about 180,000 to 200,000 won per ton and is increasing every year. According to data received from the Ministry of Environment by Park Hongbae, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee from the Democratic Party, the amount of plastic used by domestic agencies for album, packaging, and goods production increased from about 573 tons in 2019 to about 2,264 tons in 2023?almost a fourfold increase. According to Seoul City's 'non-recyclable items' standards, CDs must be disposed of as general waste in standard garbage bags.
According to research from Keele University in the UK, about 500 grams of carbon are emitted in the production of a single CD. This is about ten times that of one hour of streaming. CDs made of polycarbonate take one million years to decompose naturally. Based on the first-week sales of aespa's 2023 album 'My World,' which reached 1.69 million copies, the carbon emissions would be about 845 tons?equivalent to a passenger plane circling the Earth 74 times.
According to the Circle Chart of the Korea Music Content Association, domestic album sales in 2023 reached 98.37 million copies, more than double the 42.64 million copies in 2020. However, this was a 17.4% decrease from the 119.08 million copies sold in 2022. Circle Chart analyzed that "negative perceptions of excessive album promotion strategies had an impact."
◆Agencies must also change for a sustainable K-pop industry= Some domestic agencies have released digital platform albums with QR codes instead of CDs, but these accounted for less than 10% of total sales. Kim, the campaigner, commented, "At first, it was seen as a positive attempt, but even digital albums ended up encouraging duplicate purchases by offering a variety of photocards and covers," adding, "The marketing structure that promotes repeated purchases itself must be changed."
The Japanese, North American, and European markets have already shifted to a digital focus. In Japan, QR code-based albums are mainstream, while in the US and Europe, the industry is being reorganized around live performance content. Global record labels such as Universal Music and Warner Music have already announced plans to reduce CD production and lower carbon emissions.
SM Entertainment, in its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) report released in June this year, was the only domestic entertainment agency to disclose greenhouse gas emissions from album production. YG Entertainment also announced plans to measure and disclose such data in the future. In contrast, HYBE and JYP Entertainment did not include related information in their reports. Kim, the campaigner, emphasized, "Entertainment agencies should measure and disclose the carbon emissions generated from CD releases, and go beyond mere disclosure to make substantial efforts to reduce them."
K-pop stars are also delivering environmental protection messages. BTS member RM stated in a UN speech, "We will not wait for someone else to save the Earth," and BLACKPINK expressed in a campaign video, "The Earth is our future."
Park Hyunmin, a pop culture critic, evaluated, "Lim Youngwoong's decision is a meaningful attempt to change the existing practices that have encouraged overproduction and duplicate purchases," and described it as "an important turning point for shifting consumption methods and the chart-centered structure." He added, "As fandom awareness changes and technological and environmental alternatives exist, structural reform is entirely possible if pursued together," and advised, "Agencies, the government, and fandoms?all those involved in production, tallying, and consumption?must share joint responsibility for substantial structural improvement and an eco-friendly transition."
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