The Power of Fandom

This piece originally appeared on March 23, 2024 in Sound Signal, our biweekly newsletter that identifies emerging artists, scenes, and trending tracks, crafted by the world's best writers and curators. Sign up here to never miss our take on what's next in music.

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K-pop fans worldwide are buzzing about a boy band that doesn’t exist yet. Boys Planet, a new reality survival show from Korean broadcaster Mnet, features 98 male hopefuls competing to join a nine-member group that will debut upon the show’s finale. Following weekly performances, viewers (referred to on the show as "star creators") cast votes for who they want to see in the final band. Essentially, each audience member is asked to play A&R in this gamified "debut project," resulting in cinematic moments onstage (with 1.5M views on YouTube and counting) capturing how thrilling it can be to “make your own” group.

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The show’s format isn’t necessarily new. In 2016, media conglomerate CJ E&M—which owns Mnet—premiered Produce 101, a survival show which was the first to allow the audience to decide the line-up of an 11-member girl group. Since, Mnet has produced multiple spin-offs, as well as 2021’s Girls Planet 999 series—making idol groups like Iz*One, Wanna One, and Kep1er that have amassed substantial followings before being fully formed. These series have increasingly made a play for globalization, with Boys Planet more overtly seeking international fans (and engagement) by welcoming contenders from 84 countries and regions, who face off in groups labeled "K" for Korea and "G" for global.

By asking viewers to vote weekly, these programs elicit emotional investment for fan favorites ("I need to see Matthew in the Top 9," might be a typical Boys Planet fan comment), which will soon become actual support. With K-pop appearing more transparent about marketing than its Western counterparts, fans usually enjoy A&R-ing any permutation of contestants together (like selecting "main singers" and "main dancers") for each group. As artists increasingly depend on fan engagement for success, the format of these K-pop survival shows could serve as fruitful models for future global markets.

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