Idol fans can only join the official fan clubs (Ace, memberships, etc) after paying the membership fee.
The benefits of memberships include: Official fan meetings, pre-order concert tickets, participate in open music show broadcasts, exclusive content, etc
Most membership fees cost 30,000 KRW. They will also receive a separate fan club kit after signing up.
But of course, the memberships benefits and fan club kits vary for each singer
Aespa: 35,000 KRW
(All SM idols have the same membership fees. They used to have a welcome kit for new members, but now they just give out a 10,000KRW discount coupons)
Stray Kids: 35,000 KRW (Including the kit)
ITZY: 35,000 KRW (Including the kit)
IVE: 30,000 KRW
The Boyz: 31,000 KRW
Highlight: 31,000 KRW (Including the kit)
Just like other companies that only have one artist, some people think the production fee for their kits is higher because it's only produced in a small amount. This company was created by the members and they're also the only artists in the company, so I'm putting them on this list.
The membership fees for most official fan clubs range from 30,000 KRW to 35,000 KRW (I'm too lazy to search for more. Please leave in the comments)
Idols who work with Weverse shop usually sell their memberships and fan kits separately
BTS: 25,000 KRW for membership and 15,000 KRW for the fan kit
TXT: 22,000 KRW for membership and 14,000 KRW for the fan kit
Seventeen: 22,000 KRW for membership and 15,000 KRW for the fan kit
Enhypen: 22,000 KRW for the membership and 15,000 KRW for the fan kit
Treasure: 22,000 KRW for the membership and 15,000 KRW for the fan kit
Sunmi: 22,000 KRW for the membership and 14,000 KRW for the fan kit
VERIVERY: 22,000 KRW for the membership and 15,000 KRW for the fan kit
STAYC: 25,000 KRW for the membership and 16,000 KRW for the fan kit
The membership fee + fan kits in Weverse shop range from 36,000 KRW to 40,000 KRW. It's averagely 5,000 KRW more expensive (I may be wrong because I didn't search all of the artists)
Kim Junsu also sells the membership and fan kits separately, but...
Kim Junsu: 33,000 KRW for the membership and 88,000 KRW for the fan kit.
However, Kim Junsu's fan kit already includes the light stick (This doesn't mean he forces his fans to buy the whole fan kit just for the light stick. I don't know if you can buy the fan kit without the light stick, though)
Kim Junsu still hasn't sold his light stick separately, so I have no idea how much it costs.
So what?
Okay, let's search for other artists' light sticks
NCT: 38,000 KRW
EXO: 39,000 KRW
(Most of other SM idols' light stick is 38,000 KRW to 39,000 KRW. WayV's is 41,000 KRW)
Highlight: 42,000 KRW
TXT: 39,000 KRW
Seventeen: 39,000 KRW
Enhypen: 39,000 KRW
Treasure: 39,000 KRW
There are no pictures but after searching in WITHMUU, I found that
The Boyz, Astro, Weki Meki: 35,000 KRW
SF9: 37,000 KRW
Stray Kids: 38,000 KRW
Victon: 42,000 KRW
LOONA, StayC: 43,000 KRW
The light stick price ranges from 35,000 KRW up to 43,000 KRW
If you buy the membership + fan kit + light stick
Price for other idols: 70,000 KRW to 80,000 KRW
Kim Junsu: 121,000 KRW
-It's up to his company. His fans have the freedom to not buy it if they don't like the price.
-After this comparison, I have to admit that's really expensive...
-It is indeed expensive, but his fans still buy it anyway. It doesn't matter if the people who aren't going to buy say it's expensive. I'm sure the price will go down if not a lot of fans buy it, though.
-Seventeen's light stick looks so sparkly and pretty... I looked it up and it looks really beautiful. It steals my attention quickly.
-I don't have any thoughts on buying it but... It's really expensive
-That's really expensive. The difference between his price and other idols' average price is really big.
-So what if it's expensive? You don't have to buy it if you don't want to
-Light sticks prices seem to have gotten higher these days. I bought mine in 2018 for 33,000 KRW.
-It's f*cking expensive, but I'm not surprised^^
