So, SEA fandoms are a big part of the K-Pop sphere, a lot of K-Pop groups have big fanbases in south east asian countries and they seem to be very dedicated and loyal too.
But for some reason a lot of western K-Pop fans seem to look down on them? aespa for example has a huge fanbase in Thailand, and thai mys are very passionate about the girls.
Now, Whiplash gained 500k streams on Spotify from Thailand today, but all I’ve seen are people saying it’s from “thai bots” and “thai farms”, despite having no proof?
Why are 500k streams from the US considered valid and organic but 500k streams from Thailand considered bot behavior? Is one group of people superior to the other?
And yes, I know the US is the most important music market, but I’m not talking about that, I’m merely talking about the validity of the numbers. Why do people immediately assume big numbers coming from SEA countries means “streaming farms” despite no proof? SEA fans are people too just like americans.
This is just one example, but I’ve seen plenty of times K-Pop fans minimize the impact of SEA popularity. This behavior is kind of worrying to me.
submitted by /u/randomgirl852007
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