The Success of K-POP Boy band
Since social media has connected music industries across the globe, the number of followers or mentions on Twitter hint an artist’s popularity. The most tweeted musicians in the US in 2017 is BTS who was followed by Nicki Minaj and Harry Styles. BTS is a seven-member South Korean boy band that has been creating a sensation in the American pop market. Breaking the record as “highest debut of a K-pop album in the US”, BTS has reached 7th on the billboard 200. Their success in the English-speaking market represents the power of strong ties and the concept of authorities and hubs.
Thinking each fan as a nod and their connection as an edge, we can think of its fanbase as a component of a network. As they share the same interest, they are highly likely to form a strong edge between themselves. The strong edge between fans brought the success of BTS in the US market. BTS leveraged the solidarity of its fanbase to penetrate the US market. By having their fanbase collectively organize across social media platforms, BTS was able to successfully market its songs. The fans coordinated a social media marketing campaign which led to winning major awards such as “the Top Social Artist Award at last year’s Billboard Music Awards”. When BTS posted its music video on Youtube which could be seen as authorities, the strongly connected fanbase spread the video by reposting on other platforms which is similar to hubs. The biggest contributor to its success was its strong fanbase since the fans gave additional marketing effect to whatever BTS posted.
In the end, its fans built an emotional connection between each other by not only sharing the same contents but also engaging with each other’s content. By approving each other’s post on social media, they created a sense of community which strengthened the edges between them.