'Did I pay 4,500KRW (3.50USD) just to get one selfie?'
There has been a small fuss among fans who subscribed to NCT's Jaehyun on a fan-platform Dear U Bubble on May 13th. Bubble is a platform where you can get a personal message from your favorite idol if you subscribe for 4,500KRW (3.50USD) per month. Today, Jaehyun posted a simple picture of him. It was the first picture he posted in 19 days, since the last time he posted a picture of him in front of a mirror in a hair salon back on March 26th. To this picture, fans reacted, "That's insincere", "Give us our money's worth". Back then, Red Velvet's Joy, also received the same complaints for not posting any messages for a month. The fans who subscribed to her reacted, "Does she really not have any time to post on Bubble?".
This mobile fan platform does not only have advantages but also causes some fuss. It's because fans get different amounts of messages and pictures according to the idols' circumstances and personalities. Some people think this platform is exploiting the idols emotionally and naming the platform as 'emotional labor', as they are forced to communicate with their fans. Some also think that the subscription fee is unreasonable, taking advantage of the fans' loyalty.
On the other hand, fans also complain about things that are not necessary. Some fans are measuring the idols' love towards their fans according to the number of messages they send every month. Of course, that number does not portray the affection the idols have towards their fans. Therefore that argument can be considered inconclusive.
To this time, 49% of Bubble's subscribers are NCT and Stray Kids' fans. Since the subscription fee for one member costs 4,500KRW and NCT has 23 members, you have to pay 88,500KRW (including the discount). It is quite a big amount of money.
A fan of NCT's member, A, says, "The most we get in a month is two to three messages. I am very sad, therefore I stopped subscribing to them. I paid for the subscription fee and yet I don't know when can I get any messages." B also says, "The artist I'm subscribed to often sends messages. But I just don't think it makes sense that they get paid the same money as the artists who rarely sends messages"
Despite these complaints, fans just can't withdraw themselves from using the platform. A researcher at Hanyang Securities, Park Minju, explains, "The subscription retention rate for the next month is still over 90%. It's because most of them subscribe to two or more artists, so when one artist rarely sends messages, it doesn't affect them that much"
-My idol sends messages a lot but he always talks about the weather so I just stopped subscribingㅠㅠㅋㅋ
-They're getting paid for it but they don't give the fans their money's worth. Isn't it fraud?
-Isn't this the platform fans like the most and also the easiest way to communicate with fans??ㅋㅋㅋ If I were them, I'll send message at least once a week
-My idols don't update their Bubble that much as well. I just hope they'd stop providing the service instead. It's just a waste of money.
-But why don't they update their Bubbles?ㅠㅠ If I were them, I'd update it so f*cking often...
-Honestly, I changed my ult bias because of this...
-I think it'd be better if the fans can get a refund if they don't get updated as much as they already paid for it. Or maybe don't provide the service at all.
-If there's been two articles about the same problem, you should at least update your Bubble at least twice a week, Jaehyun-ahㅠㅠ There are some idols who are even worse than him, though...
-I feel like no communication should cost money. Why would you pay just to get messages?
-It's not even that hard to make his fans happy, just update them with some basic things...
-I just hope these idols are not forced to do such things...
-Being an idol is obviously such a hard job to do...
-I'm not a NCTzen but I heard that Jaehyun rarely updates his Bubble. I imagined how long he hasn't updated his and now there are articles coming up about it...
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