✦ THE OFFICIAL THREAD OF ✦ GFRIEND ✦ I'll be your BUDDY ~ #ThankYouGFRIEND

[spopo]

Doesn't BH control GF's distribution now?  I didn't realize Kakao M was still involved.

[Memoria~]

55 minutes ago, spopo said:

Doesn't BH control GF's distribution now?  I didn't realize Kakao M was still involved.

Nope if you go to their album on Spotify , it shown as "under license to kakao M" . I also remember most buddies last yr said last yr release album are  still produced/printed by kakao M. So far there is still no official announcement/physical evidence regarding the change in GF album/digital song's distributor.

Another thing, I believe the distribution right is signed by Soumu not Bighit. Since Bighit already mentioned they won't involve the operation under Soumu. Bighit only involved in their music producing/maybe shared some other resources with Soumu. Hence, as long as any contract signed by Soumu  itself with other comp, Bighit have no control unless they all agreed to pay the cancellation fee. (P.s this is how business work & this business operation I meant only for GFRIEND , I not sure how it works for the project ngg's business  operation maybe it work like how their previous gg , G*am).

If you asking why the albums are selling under wv. For me , wv shop  works like soribada & other online music album shop so Soumu is just letting wv to sell the girls album & merchandise via wv shop. This doesn't mean wv is their distributor/bighit has control on the distribution even wv ever email to buddies on the late delivery of their album that is the printing comp delayed so I think the printing comp means Kakao M. Maybe those who have the girls last yr album released can double check is kakao M logo on the CD.

As for future, maybe soumu may change since Bighit changed their distributor early this yr under YG plus. However, I still unclear about the YG plus & Bighit business project as in whether this will also apply to their Bighit labels. Since when the news was released they only explained on the business project not much on how it will affect on Bighit sublabel , though most said it will apply o their label artists as well but we will not know until we see it ourselves since none of the label artists are having their KR cb as of now. P.s. this also applies whether the agency willing to pay the cancellation of the contract. So all depends on Soumu

So for now , we only can say Soumu's distributor is still under Kakao M  since it was proven with all their previous released albums including the 3 albums released after the acquistion

Edited March 1, 2021 by Memoria~

[spopo]

41 minutes ago, Memoria~ said:

Nope if you go to their album on Spotify , it shown as "under license to kakao M" . I also remember most buddies last yr still produced/printed by kakao M. So far there is still no change in GF's distribution. If you talking about the BH's own distributor article in 2019, for now is only BH artist itself. the sub-label/subsisdiary are not yet involved. Though the article did mentioned the label artists will also allow to use, however, no change in the distribution based on last yr releases. Just Soumu selling the album via wv at the moment . wv shop works like soribada & other online music album shop. Doesn't mean wv is their distributor.

maybe now is the right time to switch lol

[Memoria~]

12 minutes ago, spopo said:

maybe now is the right time to switch lol

Yes, every buddies are asking soumu to change. So we only can wait patiently. Is just very sad that how we work hard to get those million streams, 1M plus listerner with last yr release & the number followers. Now we don't even have a clue when will they be back on Spotify 

And now both Kakao M & Spotify are pushing the blame instead of giving solution to those artists & agency . They literally ignore the artists & fans hard work . That is what pissed most fandoms.

P.S  if your "switch" means music platform app, then ignore my above reply

Edited March 1, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

Eunha's 1st weverse post & Umji's comment translated by GFsquad

Eunha weverse posts & comments translated by GFsquad

 

[Memoria~]

Looks like Soumu is trying to put back the song back . Most of the albums are now blank but is still in the GFRIEND page

Hmm I doubt it though I check Yuju & Sinb's page , those ost all blank as well but those ost not under Soumu so really question it

Edited March 1, 2021 by Memoria~

[eunheart]

Pardon me cause I'm going to vent myself here with what happened last night. You probably know it so much already but I still want to vent out this feeling.

Spoiler

I have so much things going on around me but what happened last night really fumed me. Even more so because I was listening to entire GFRIEND discography on Spotify and suddenly my play stopped and never continued again.

The fact that I know that K company has not been doing justice to all the artists distributed by them for years, which if I remember correctly, IU has been exposing them for quite a while ago, and this happened, made me really angry.

From what I'm getting, it was due to Sp**ify making their way into Korea, affected K company's meI0n a lot. The dispute shows both were pretty greedy to snatch the salads in front of them, with K don't want S to affect their meI0n further, but resulting to worldwide pullout (instead of just in Korea) was just too much for each others' beefs. What's worse, their greed not only affected the global listeners, but the artists exposures and milestones on a global platform entirely. And it seems that they're not been alerted over the removal, left unattended just like us.

I was so mad at this because I've been using Spotify since they first stepped into my country, for years. Not to mention, 99% of my playlists created were heavily covered by Korean songs. If K refused to sign with S just so they can get people to start using meI0n again, it's a big mistake. I'd rather go back to offline listening than getting into Korean platform which will not favor me to listen to songs other than Koreans which I still do listen to them here and there.

It's good to see Soumu tried something (reuploading under new distributor it seems?) in this short span of less than 24 hours. It shows they don't want to lose themselves out in S. But K and S really should get their shit together and resolve this asap before this greed majorly affected super lots of K artists.

On the side note, things were out of control on my daily life lately and I couldn't keep up with GFRIEND entirely but only listening to their song. So this incident happened was a major frustration for me as it's the only thing that kept me close to GFRIEND everyday.\

[Memoria~]

 

[Memoria~]

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

 

[Memoria~]

Yuju's IGpost

 

 

She exposing her forehead now !!!

Edited March 2, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

Yuju's IGpost-2 caption translated by GFsquad

 

 

[Memoria~]

MML's Jane post a photo taken with Yuju 2 yrs ago, caption translated by GFsquad

 

[eunheart]

Seems like there's no update on the Spotify as of now. They added blank albums but that's about it until now. I wonder what's next

[spopo]

MMLD Jane opened a youtube.  I wonder if Yuju will go on it, whatever she ends up using it for...

[Memoria~]

9 hours ago, eunheart said:

Seems like there's no update on the Spotify as of now. They added blank albums but that's about it until now. I wonder what's next

Hmm, I know you are upset. However, I have some views on this

Before I procced,  let me emphasize is just my guess &opinion. So what I want to say under spoiler:

 

Firstly I really doubt soumu will even bother to upload back unlesss fans bombard them. To me , I know a fellow buddy of mine, trying to get Soumu to put the JPN discography globally but Soumu just ignored her email (p.s she tried for 2 yrs already).

Secondly, I always feel Soumu don't really bother much on the international fanbase (including the China fanbase <- though as of now I still feel is due to the politics issue between SK & CN) . Why I say this, look how they created tiktok & only use for cb unlike most artists using it not even their cb promotion period; also look at their weibo,it totally just being abandoned after Sunny Summer era. Hence, to me , Soumu don't bother if it is gone in the global platform , they will view this as Kakao M & Spotify problem & they maybe just will waiting for both comp give a solution to them or both comp to have a compromise agreement. (p.s just my view, since I totally don't think Soumu are solving this issue and is 2 days already since those blank album covers are the same with those artists licensing under Kakao M like I mentioned even Yuju, Sinb, maybe Eunha & Umji's OST that licensing under kakao M also shown as Blank album cover & I don't think Soumu has the copyright & license for their OST. Thus, to me, those  Kakao M songs not being solved by any music entertainment agency/the relevant comp, the song/albums will be entirely blank . just look how first PNation solve this.)

Lastly, I don't know what will be the next steps but I only can advise you to switch to other music platform, recommended Apple/Youtube music.

Sorry as long as Soumu remain unmoved on this , we can't get the songs back. However, like I mentioned to Spopo, based on the news between BH & YG Plus, a few kpop fans view that the new distributor - YG Plus will be for BH & BH label artists, but when it will be official for the girls , we won't know unless they announce their cb date. 

Hence, is up to your choice whether you want to switch because this will not settle until Soumu really care for the girls' international market (which I really doubt) until now I still feel they are focusing on KR market more then JPN (but failed because of the poor promotion by their JPN label, yes again I hate them since they signed with King Records; still prefer Sony or other well-known label; King Records can't even give an anime song when they have artists that sings for anime ). P.S unless Soumu also handle the new gg's licensing contract , if so, maybe they will work on that since BH want it to be international. (just my view)

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

Yuju's weverse post translated by GFRIENDaily

 

Edit: Sinb's comment translated by GFRDNation

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~

[spopo]

13 minutes ago, Memoria~ said:

Hmm, I know you are upset. However, I have some views on this

Before I procced,  let me emphasize is just my guess &opinion. So what I want to say under spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

Firstly I really doubt soumu will even bother to upload back unlesss fans bombard them. To me , I know a fellow buddy of mine, trying to get Soumu to put the JPN discography globally but Soumu just ignored her email (p.s she tried for 2 yrs already).

Secondly, I always feel Soumu don't really bother much on the international fanbase (including the China fanbase <- though as of now I still feel is due to the politics issue between SK & CN) . Why I say this, look how they created tiktok & only use for cb unlike most artists using it not even their cb promotion period; also look at their weibo,it totally just being abandoned after Sunny Summer era. Hence, to me , Soumu don't bother if it is gone in the global platform , they will view this as Kakao M & Spotify problem & they maybe just will waiting for both comp give a solution to them or both comp to have a compromise agreement. (p.s just my view, since I totally don't think Soumu are solving this issue and is 2 days already since those blank album covers are the same with those artists licensing under Kakao M like I mentioned even Yuju, Sinb, maybe Eunha & Umji's OST that licensing under kakao M also shown as Blank album cover & I don't think Soumu has the copyright & license for their OST. Thus, to me, those  Kakao M songs not being solved by any music entertainment agency/the relevant comp, the song/albums will be entirely blank . just look how first PNation solve this.)

Lastly, I don't know what will be the next steps but I only can advise you to switch to other music platform, recommended Apple/Youtube music.

Sorry as long as Soumu remain unmoved on this , we can't get the songs back. However, like I mentioned to Spopo, based on the news between BH & YG Plus, a few kpop fans view that the new distributor - YG Plus will be for BH & BH label artists, but when it will be official for the girls , we won't know unless they announce their cb date. 

Hence, is up to your choice whether you want to switch because this will not settle until Soumu really care for the girls' international market (which I really doubt) until now I still feel they are focusing on KR market more then JPN (but failed because of the poor promotion by their JPN label, yes again I hate them since they signed with King Records; still prefer Sony or other well-known label; King Records can't even give an anime song when they have artists that sings for anime ). P.S unless Soumu also handle the new gg's licensing contract , if so, maybe they will work on that since BH want it to be international. (just my view)

I think you're right.  It's always felt frustrating to me because I really feel like some of the i-markets have untapped potential (like China--C-fans buy a ton of albums).  But I sort of though BH wanted them to be more global..?  I expected more global investment tbh.  Not like... Gfriend being on US talk shows ofc, but small things like the Weibo. 

But for Japan, doesn't King Records have control of distribution of the Jpn. versions of songs?  Does SouMu have any say in it?

[Memoria~]

1 hour ago, spopo said:

I think you're right.  It's always felt frustrating to me because I really feel like some of the i-markets have untapped potential (like China--C-fans buy a ton of albums).  But I sort of though BH wanted them to be more global..?  I expected more global investment tbh.  Not like... Gfriend being on US talk shows ofc, but small things like the Weibo. 

But for Japan, doesn't King Records have control of distribution of the Jpn. versions of songs?  Does SouMu have any say in it?

Yes, I do believe BH wanted them to be global but so far other than those international mag interview during MAGO ere. I don't see any other promotion, I only can hope for more opportunites for their next cb, if not, maybe BH only help getting those interviews but promoting on social media platform is fully handle by Soumu PR team

 

About the Japan song, yes for what I believe King Records have control of the distribution because my friend said the Memoria JPN single is she managed to ask King records & Soumu and we only know some countries have the Memoria JPN on their Spotify platform but she don't know who was in charge on that as none of the 2 reply her email , and that time her aim was for KKBOX awards chart. After that she was busy with her personal life, she didn't send.  But I still believe is King records having the distribution right since Spotify show is "cr: King Record", I remember I discussed with my friend  her email template to Soumu & king Records to put JPN songs on Spotify Global, but my friend told me she don't know who is actually in charge since that time none of the 2 replied her & then some countries have Memoria JPN on their Spotify. She said she want to understand the Spotify right, that time she told me that she  believed is Soumu not giving enough budget for King Records to release to more countries Spotify platform hence that is why some countries Memoria single is available & not the entire GLOBAL platform

 

P.S. let me just add-on, with the Kakao M & Spotify issue, regarding the girls JPN discography , I now believe the reason for King records not releasing them,  it is more likely to be money issue or related more to Soumu.WHY?->  if King Records being the distributor for their JPN discography and the fact King Records' other KR artists & JPN artists' songs are mostly available in the Global platform (for my country's Spotify platform, I've seen most King Record KR artists & JPN artists song available ) that means King Records did sign with Spotify for global distribution & japan distribution). So I really wonder why King Records allow their other KR artists song on Spotify Global but not the girls? Is it the money which my friend mentioned (i.e. King Records only able to release globally if Soumu shared the cost for the global distribution) or is Soumu not allowing them ? (Sorry for the business terms)

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

 

[Memoria~]

 

[Memoria~]

Sinb's weverse post

 

[Memoria~]

Sinb's IGpost

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

Yuju's IGstories caption translated by GFRIENDaily

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~

[Memoria~]

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Memoria~