Sunmi & ABYSS Company respond (poorly) to fan backlash over NFT involvement

[My Everything]

Many K-pop companies and artists are involved with NFTs now, and that market figures to only grow from here as it certainly seems like the next frontier that companies will try to monetize, with the young and impressionable fanbase likely seen as a demo ripe to exploit. While there’s significant pushback among K-pop fans so far, eventually the sheer omnipresence of it in the market might overwhelm even that sentiment.

The currently backlash is why most celebrities and companies have chosen just to announce them and stay relatively silent to collect their checks or whatever, but Sunmi and Abyss Company have responded to the backlash from fans, perhaps in ways that are not advisable.

On WeVerse, Sunmi released a statement in Korean that reads terribly and comes off like her telling fans that if they don’t like it then leave. It got to the point where the fansite had to try to explain the tone in a way that doesn’t sound completely dismissive and shitty.

Either way, it’s not great. What stood out to me is how the statement angles at exploiting any parasocial relationship developed, basically asking the fans to trust in her in whatever and that she wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.

The backlash got to the point where the company also released a statement.

It says a lot of nothing, but attempts to assuage any concerns.

Anyway, it doesn’t appear that she or the company will be backing down, so it must be a hell of a payday and the company must really believe it’s going to become a core part of their operations going forward. Bleak.

——

For information on NFTs, here’s a collection of quality work on the topic and I found this thread to be quite good as well (or here for more bleak mess).

Quite frankly, I just find them wholly unnecessary. Everything they are involved with could be executed as well or (usually) better without them, and that’s even before getting into any moral or ethical concerns that are explored in the writing above.

Source

[Nelkoya]

Been a Miyane for a few years and this is just very disappointing... it shows that both Sunmi and Abyss don't hear the true concerns of her own fans and are entitled to go on with this project.

She wants us to keep listening to her music but she's releasing a new song soon and I'm not even a bit excited about it.

[No1]

“Don’t you know me well?”

 

No. We don’t.

 

That sounds so disgustingly manipulative, and I know each and every idol relies on parasocial relationships, but it is rare to see the blantant use of emotional manipulation to squeeze more money with a venture that is downright damaging. We don’t know shit about Sunmi other than what she and her company wants us to see. Disappointment doesn’t even come close to what she’s doing.

[Guest]

Very disappointed as a long time fan. From what I have heard, the NFTs have already been sold and the whole project has been planned out for a year so they're not going to go back on it - but what I've heard that blows my mind is that the majority of the NFTs were bought overwhelmingly by crypto-investors and not by her fans. How does this make any sense as a venture then? The NFTs cost around $900 a piece. It just reads as a total scam (I mean, NFTs in general read as a scam and I never have seen anyone really explain how they are useful for people, much like the Bitcoin mania a few years back) that is focused on cryptocurrency investment to get Abyss Company to make bank.

I have heard though that the original Korean is less "gtfo fake fan" and more "I understand if you want to leave if you don't like this decision". In general the statement is weird to me because she keeps mentioning that music is all she wants to do for the fans, and nothing with the NFTs themselves.

[LostChild]

Sunmi is one of my favorite idols but this is really unjustifiable. It's not just about how bad NFTs are but also the underhanded way she's making use of fans parasocial attachment to her. She should know better.

[rananicolee]

Prepare for more musicians to react like this about NFTs. Avenged Sevenfold has made it their entire brand at this point and basically calls the fans stupid for not supporting them in this. 

[Nelkoya]

36 minutes ago, rananicolee said:

Prepare for more musicians to react like this about NFTs. Avenged Sevenfold has made it their entire brand at this point and basically calls the fans stupid for not supporting them in this. 

Damn didn't know about a7x... guess it's good i kinda dropped them after nightmare

[Moon Jellyfish]

Sunmi girl..... this ain't it.

 

 

[rananicolee]

45 minutes ago, Koya said:

Damn didn't know about a7x... guess it's good i kinda dropped them after nightmare

Yeah it’s actually really sad to see as someone who kept trying to support them. Nevermind the fact they finally acknowledged they were seen as racists in 2020 due to their beliefs 

[Guest]

Also, I saw someone mention it on Reddit: Bambam, who's also signed under Abyss Company, apparently is the face of a cryptocurrency called Popcoin. I bet that whole company is deeply invested in crypto stuff to make bank and they're gonna start pushing crypto and NFT stuff on their other artists soon to cash in. 

[Your Biggest Fan]

Guess she titled her new release "Oh Sorry Ya" perfectly for this.

I'm getting tired of all this NFT, crypto and meta-verse junk.

[Josaline]

Wrong move...

[paimon]

eww

[spopo]

if an idol I stanned involved themselves in NFTs I'd consider it a deal breaker. js

[JNT-LEGGO]

Damn Sunmi never struck me as that type of idol, borderline selfish and dismissive.

[Anii]

To think that she released Noir....