BTS's path to superstardom was paved, in part, by South Korea's wave of cultural exports to the West - from music to television dramas to elaborate skin care routines. Before BTS, a series of top K-pop acts have made US debuts, yet none really stuck, making the boys' success even more unprecedented and unexpected.
This is best reflected through K-pop's intense trainee system, where potential stars are recruited through auditions and cultivated over years of rigorous performance training. Music studios are typically responsible for a group's formation, their marketing and music, and even their personal lives.While BTS members were recruited through this system, their management label, Big Hit Entertainment, took a different approach, placing fewer restrictions on them.
The price of a music download or stream in Korea is worth shockingly little, Cho told me."Selling the same exact song or exact same album, Korean acts could earn more than eight times more profit outside of Korea than inside," he said. This has driven all types of Korean artists, from idols to indie singers, to go overseas and target an international audience.
Money is an inextricable aspect of any music fandom culture, not just BTS's: Fans want to support their favourite artists, and that devotion is usually expressed through purchasing concert tickets, albums, and merchandise collections - all things that help the artist succeed. Still, not everyone can afford that or live where merch is easily accessible, Liv told me, which is why she and her fellow ARMYs are so passionate about hosting social media giveaways.
Within online fan circles, ARMY members like Liv have found ways to make the BTS community more inclusive, especially for younger fans and those who live in places where it's prohibitively expensive to get items shipped. US BTS ARMY, a not-for-profit organisation and fan news site for BTS, occasionally hosts worldwide merch giveaways for global fans, and Album for Every ARMY is a charity project for fans who are unable to buy their own BTS albums.
The purchase of some of these extra items, like concert tickets or T-shirts, when paired with an album or single is considered"bundling", something many top US artists do to boost album sales.