[RUMOR] 100503 2PM's hoard purchasing controversy

Things to keep in mind before you read the translations:

Hanteo users alerted Hanteo two days ago about suspicions of a 'hoard purchase' with 2PM's latest album, 'Don't Stop Can't Stop.' Over 7,500 albums were purchased by one person, setting alarms off on Hanteo's boards and bringing up speculations of whether JYPE is behind it or not. The amount of purchases, ironically, was said to be just enough to secure 2PM's #1 in Music Bank or Inkigayo this week.

The suspicion falls under the category of a 'sajegi,' literally translated to 'hoard purchase.' In the music industry, this implies that the company mass purchased the albums themselves in order to receive all of the benefits of an explosive sale (public attention and acknowledgment, more CF offers, media play opportunities) and then to release them back into the market to resale all over again.

2PM fans have flocked to Hanteo to clarify the controversy by stating that it was the efforts of their fan union, but realistically speaking, can 2PM's current fanbase afford $48,750 in one purchase?

Rain had been met with the same 'sajegi' controversy two weeks ago but his fans confirmed that they had united to 'hoard purchase. However, it was less than 1,000 album purchases, thus earning his 'all kill' on Music Bank for three weeks in a row (which sparked controversy against Hyori fans). All of SNSD fans combined, notorious for their 'hoard' purchases, cannot come anywhere near the 7,500 purchased at once by 2PM.

2PM's first week of album sales amounted to 8,000 copies, with this 'sajegi' purchase bringing the total to less than 20k. 2PM is marketed to be on the same level as SNSD in terms of fanbase and influence, but SNSD managed to sell 20k albums on their first night. 2PM sold 1.7k.

How is $48,750 possible?

Recently, there's been weird talk circulating amongst idol fandoms. The term 'hoard purchasing' might make you cock your head but it is most likely not the term that you are thinking of. The purpose of album hoards is to control and manipulate the singers' rankings on music programs. With the Cheonanham tragedy putting April on hold, Rain managed to place 1st in Music Bank for 3 weeks in a row. Speculations have risen, stating that it was due to his album sales.

Because of his album sales, Rain managed to place 1st for 3 weeks but Hyori's fandom, who has been competing with Rain, has brought up the controversy of a 'hoard purchase.' Also, 2PM's fandom also recorded over 7,000 album purchases this weekend, putting 2PM back on the chopping block for the controversy.
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These are some of the discussion posts that are going on in Hanteo right now.

Is it really important whether 2PM is a 'sajegi' or a 'hoard purchase'?

They sold 8,000 in their first week. And whether it was through the company or through a hoard purchase, they sold 7,000 more. Together, it's less than 20,000. Their total sales are extremely low in comparison to other male idol groups.

The album hasn't been out for a while so it might be a hoard purchase by the fans but seeing as how the hoard purchase hasn't even put them anywhere near 20,000 sales means that 2PM is doing horribly...
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- It's not important how many they sold. If this is really their company doing a hoard purchase, it becomes a huge problem. They basically lied to the public behind the shield of their fans and have committed fraud. They're currently going up in the charts right now with just their album sales.

- I agree with the above.

- Well, even if the company did buy it, their overall sales are extremely low which is what makes this funny.



Isn't JYPE doing this on purpose to take #1 on Music Bank?

The fact that they have jumped 6,000 is suspicious in itself. No matter how cheap their albums are, to say that the fans bought it all at once, anyone can see right through that lie.

2PM's first week album sales were less than half of their previous and their song rankings suddenly dropped. JYPE probably felt the pressure and decided to spend a couple thousand in order to get their album to #1 in order to evade this crisis.

Their scheme is so obvious, they have taken the achilles tendon of the music rankings. Music rankings can always be manipulated with a bit of money. Any popular artist can have their company invest thousands into buying all of the albums back to get them at #1.

The public might just think, "Well, 2PM has enough popularity so they must have sold that much.."

But the people at Hanteo boards are sensitive people that calculate everything, so obviously the speculations are pouring out. The 'sajegi' by JYPE is intense.

If 2PM gets #1 with this, they get even more CF offers and an incredible boost in their image. How could the company NOT invest in a couple purchases?

All they have to do is buy the albums, get them to #1, and cover the losses with the money they made from the CF offers.

And who knows, maybe JYPE will release the albums they bought again in order to sell them all over again. Even auction it off in Gmarket or online.

The reason I'm posting this is because if the fans really did do a hoard purchase, there needs to be enough evidence to prove that. The amount that was purchased is too unrealistic, and there is no proof coming from the fans.




There is suspicion. If the company buys the albums themselves under promotion expenses, they'll get #1 on music programs and the effect of it will be great. What I'm curious about is that if the fans truly did purchase all of it themselves, there needs to be release of some kind of proof but none of the numbers were revealed.
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- Judging from 2PM's current situation, it's impossible not to be suspicious.

- Any fandom does 'hoard purchases' but what we're suspicious about is the extreme amount of 2PM's. Even if it wasn't 2PM, if another artist recorded this many sales at once, suspicions would arise. The only groups that managed, barely, to pull this off was SS501 or Super Junior.

Suspicions regarding 2PM & 'sajegi'

Their first week album sales were less than this hoard purchase. It's an amount that's impossible to come from Hanteo. There's only so much fans participating in a hoard purchase.

Even SNSD's fandom only manages to purchase 1 or 2,000 albums at once. No matter how cheap 2PM's albums are, it's hard to purchase even 2,000 at once.... how could they manage over 6,000?

Park Jinyoung sold the Wonder Girls' single album in America as $1 and managed to land in 2009's America's music charts. I don't see this as just 2PM's fans purchasing $48,750 at once. I see this as another marketing ploy by JYPE.




*sajegi: The company purchasing the album.
*Hoard purchase: The fans pooling money together to purchase the album.


The controversy here is that $48,750 worth of CD's were bought AT ONCE, by ONE person, to secure 2PM's wins at Music Bank and Inkigayo. '

May be taken out with full credits. You are not allowed add yourself to the credits nor edit the credits.

CREDITS : HANTEO, TI STORY (SOURCE); hazyfiasco@2ONEDAY.COM (TRANS)