“STOP SABOTAGING SEVENTEEN” — Fans enraged as HYBE and Pledis Entertainment allegedly fail to properly promote the band’s comeback

On April 29, 2024, SEVENTEEN dropped its comeback album, 17 IS RIGHT HERE, along with the official music video of its title track, MAESTRO. Despite its massive success, fans of the boy band expressed their rage and disappointment towards its management company, Pledis Entertainment, and the parent corporation, HYBE.

Fans claimed that the company failed to adequately promote the new release at such a critical period for SEVENTEEN, who might reportedly enlist in the military by the end of this year.

The alleged negligence on the company's part has gotten the fans riled up as they flooded social media with their opinions on the subject. One X user went as far as saying, "STOP SABOTAGING SEVENTEEN."

Others chimed in as well, voicing their displeasure with the boy band allegedly getting less exposure in album promotions.

"Hybe can buy the whole industry and media for their other groups but can't give svt a yt premiere and properly stock the albums on the day of release?" — an X user wrote.

"They want accquire pledis just to hide seventeen not do properly promotion." — an X user wrote.

"I bet it's because they didn't want svt sales to surpass another group's sales. Like I just know it." — an X user wrote.

Fans also stated that it would be preferable to support fan-made merchandise as it would be of higher quality and wouldn't be sold out by the manufacturer. Some highlighted that the group's song MAESTRO was released seven minutes behind schedule.

"They said they promote all subsidiaries equally, yet during Seventeen's comeback, I don't know when the song was released seven minutes late." — an X user wrote.

"So .. you keep on dropping merch trying to suck our money dry yet you cant promote this comeback properly? Are we the one funding your legal fees for your internal dispute now lol." — an X user wrote.

"You keep on releasing merch after merch but can't restock albums??? Most of music shops are still OOS!! How shameless can u be to milk Seventeen THIS MUCH for money and yet U CAN'T EVEN PROMOTE THEM PROPERLY." — an X user wrote.

"PASS. You can't even promote them properly, can't even do bare mininum of mv premier , but thick face in getting carats money? Carats, if you wanna boycott something, start w/ this kind of merchs from hybe, not the album. Most profits of this goes to hybe than to the artists." — an X user wrote.

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SEVENTEEN's new album faces album shortage while thousands of copies get thrown out on Japan's streets

On May 8, 2024, HYBE's merchandise X account previewed and posted the details of the group's merch. Titled "SEVENTEEN BEST ALBUM '17 IS RIGHT HERE' Official Merch," the company informed the fanbase about the new products.

Many fans pointed out that HYBE would profit more from these releases than properly promoting SEVENTEEN. Others also claimed that HYBE will continue publishing money-making content despite not wanting to invest in the boys.

Furthermore, the price of the deluxe edition of SEVENTEEN's most recent album, 17 IS RIGHT HERE, generated controversy. The album was originally priced at $150, fuelling fans' speculations of the company trying to earn money through the group allegedly without giving fair promotions.

Currently, the album is priced at 170,800 KRW ($125.58) and was put on sale, down from its original price of 204,900 KRW ($150.65).

However, fans were outraged that the albums didn't get restocked in South Korea, which prolonged the waiting time of the fans. This further heightened their fury as they lashed out at HYBE for allegedly trying to sabotage the group.

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SEVENTEEN's new album allegedly gets thrown out on streets of Japan

Meanwhile, on May 1, 2024, reports surfaced online that the group's latest album, 17 IS RIGHT HERE, copies faced an unfortunate fate in Japan. Reportedly, the Japanese fans of the boy group from Pledis Entertainment purchased the new album copies in bulk, only to throw them away on the streets of Shibuya in Japan.

Reportedly, several CARATs purchased the 17 IS RIGHT HERE vinyl copies just to collect the members' photocards inside them. Additionally, there was a notice near where the albums were thrown that said, "Feel free to take any you want," which made fans assume that someone bought the albums in bulk, intending to resell the photo cards and codes for monetary gain.

As previous reports indicate, many fans were unable to buy the new albums since they were out of stock. These reports make the fact that they were being bought just to get thrown on the streets in Japan all the more disturbing.

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SEVENTEEN is currently busy with their Follow tour, which has an upcoming show in Osaka's Yanmar Stadium on May 18 and 19, 2024. After this, the boy band would head to Kanagawa for a concert at the Nissan Stadium.