Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
So a combination of fandom mess and Melon‘s incompetence has already compelled me to cover the I.O.I/BLACKPINK war that stemmed from the 2016 Melon Music Awards, but I thought I would be able to steer clear of the even larger EXO/BTS war that has them asking the United States government for help. Well, I almost did it, but I just had to cover EXO stans being so upset that BTS won an award over EXO that they are calling Melon customer service for answers.
“EXO Stan: It’s regarding the Melon Music Awards.
Call Center Agent: Yes.
EXO Stan: I’ve seen other phone conversations and it seems like you (Melon) have your internal data.
Call Center Agent: Yes, that’s the digital sales score. Internal data is the overall data collected from Nov. 19th, 2015 till Nov. 18th, 2016. And the charts you’ve seen, those are just one of the many sides of the real-time chart. The internal data referred to by Melon is the total data collected during the one-year period. This includes real-time, weekly, monthly, and the day-to-day album sales, etc. It’s the total score.
EXO Stan: But if the artist didn’t release any albums during that one-year period, it won’t be counted, right?
Call Center Agent: That’s right.
EXO Stan: We have calculated our own score for this award, so what you’re saying is that the data we see is absolutely different compared to the data considered by Melon?
Call Center Agent: No, we’re looking at the same data. But the chart you’ve seen and the real-time … the data you’ve seen is what you see immediately after the artist releases their album, right?
EXO Stan: I don’t think that’s right.
Call Center Agent: I think it’s difficult for you to see the total data figure because that data is only available to LOEN. I’m not sure how you’ve calculated the score, but whatever you’ve calculated is the scores from the chart. But what we use is not the chart, we look at the data of … you know the number of times listened by the general public and not how many times their fans buy or stream the artist’s songs. It’s the overall digital score.
EXO Stan: Then you mean you won’t reveal that data?
Call Center Agent: It’s a fair internal data, so it’s not that we won’t reveal the data. We can’t reveal the data.
EXO Stan: Is there a reason why you can’t reveal this data?
Call Center Agent: I think you are suspecting internal fabrication, but as far as I can tell you, there is no corruption. You can understand that BTS won the award because their songs were streamed more compared to EXO’s during the one-year period.
EXO Stan: You should convince us that this is true first. The people who voted for these awards didn’t vote for free, did we? They said we could vote three times by purchasing streaming passes and you (Melon) made us pay for them, but if you refuse to reveal the (internal) data…
Call Center Agent: It’s not that we refuse to reveal the data, please listen to me. After EXO released their album, there were instances when their songs topped the charts immediately.
EXO Stan: I’m not considering those immediate moments when they top the chart. I mean, it’s hard for the fans to understand this situation, so as a customer who voted and used your service, you need to convince us to stop the fans from talking about this situation.
Call Center Agent: No. I tried to explain and convince you about this situation, but you’re the one that’s not understanding. As I’ve told you, during the one-year period BTS scored higher but you want to see the data related to this, am I right?
EXO Stan: Yes.
Call Center Agent: As for that, this data is the sum of all internal data, so it’s not that we refuse to reveal it, we just can’t reveal this because it’s our internal data.
EXO Stan: Why can’t you reveal this?
Call Center Agent: It’s I-N-T-E-R-N-A-L D-A-TA. I.N.T.E.R.N.A.L.
EXO Stan: What’s the difference? Why can’t you reveal this internal data? If this data has been organized, you can reveal it to us, right?
Call Center Agent: No, this isn’t about being organized. It’s enormous. This data includes every artist, not only EXO. Data that was collected during the course of one year, isn’t that right?
EXO Stan: Yes. Go on.
Call Center Agent: So it’s quite impossible for us to organize it individually. We award the artist according to the total score.
EXO Stan: Ok.
Call Center Agent: And BTS scored higher.
EXO Stan: Alright.
Call Center Agent: Thank you. This was Melon Customer Care, ***.”
Good god.
While everybody else argues about the fairness of the award, we need to appreciate the people working customer service at Melon, because this was a heroic effort that seemed to be for nothing in the end. I had not even thought about this angle prior to hearing/reading this, but I can’t imagine a hell worse than having to field phone calls all day from delulu stans who are mad as fuck and trying to explain shit to them.
“It’s I-N-T-E-R-N-A-L D-A-TA. I.N.T.E.R.N.A.L.”
#NeverForget
