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On Tuesday, August 1, Arirang News discussed the achievements and the retrieval of BTS' book, Beyond the Story by the masses in their segment, Issues & Insiders. The segment concerning the book's performance in the market was discussed by the K-pop reporter, Haley Yang, a journalist from Korea JoongAng Daily.
In her report, she stated her opinions on the reasons behind the book's current position as a best-seller in New York Times, and fans weren't happy with the same. The reporter claimed that ARMYs had bulk-bought the albums to pipe up Beyond The Story's sale and that the only reason they bulk-bought the books is because they didn't have any albums or releases to rather spend their money on.
Fans took a lot of offense to her statements since she not only downplayed BTS' achievements with their book, Beyond The Story but also disrespected the group's fans and failed to understand how vast the fandom is.
Fans fire criticism at the K-pop reporter, Haley Yang, for her misleading and disrespectful comments on BTS' book, Beyond The Story
Beyond The Story was a collaborative release by BTS and the K-pop culture writer, Myeongseok Kang, which was released on July 9, 2023. The same was to mark their ten-year journey with their fans, ARMY, and the book consists of the group's talks and discussion during their interview with Weverse. This interview was transcribed by Myeongseok Kang into a comprehensive book, narrating the members' journey to the world's biggest boy group.
Given that this was the first book release from the group, fans were elated and enthusiastically bought the books. With countless members in BTS' fandom, the results naturally skyrocketed in sales and fans have been consistently celebrating how much recognition and attention an important and personal account of BTS' musical journey has been garnering.
However, the recent report made by Haley Yang in Arirang News left many fans offended and hurt. Here's what her report put forth about Beyond The Story:
"There’s also probably a bigger reason behind a book reaching No. 1 on the list by a Korean K-Pop band, right? Well, first of all, if you think about it, BTS’s ARMY are known for their formidable purchasing power. They buy up to 3 million copies of BTS album whenever they release one and ever since June of last year, if you notice, their has been no album of BTS because of their official announcement of a group hiatus."
She continued:
"So, ARMY need some place to spend their money and channel their passion into. And it’s the same as how CD sales have been skyrocketing since the pandemic started and social distancing was at its peak, K-Pop fans couldn’t spend their money on concerts or meet and greets, anything in-person. So, they decided to channel a lot of their funds for supporting their stars into bulk-buying their CDs because they couldn’t spend it on anything else."
She concluded her report with more statements about BTS' Beyond The Story:
"And I believe that a lot of the solo projects and even this book that BTS or BTS-related stuff are being released, the fans are deciding to show their support by purchasing their usually, you know, CD money on these merchandises. This time, I think the book was a very great form of BTS’s appeal to be released in the market when the fans are really thirsty for content."
Fans found many flaws in her report apart from the disrespect and downplay of BTS and its fandoms' achievements. The reporter seemed to have completely ignored the content the BTS has been rolling out despite their group hiatus that started in June 2022. The solo albums from the members, solo tours, magazine features, cookbooks, BT21 merchandise, etc.
Many were unhappy with the acquisitions that the reporter made, making it seem like the book's success was strategized and calculated. Following the same, they've been sending much criticism to Haley Yang for her lack of research and the misrepresentation of BTS' Beyond the Story.
