K-pop's profligate CD output draws fire as South Korea hosts plastic waste talks

K-pop music may be South Korea's buzziest export, but the industry needlessly creates mountains of plastic in its home market by churning out CDs that most fans don't even listen to, critics say.

What the fans are interested in are the photos of band members that come with the CD and essentially function as trading cards, often becoming collectors' items. The catch is that each CD typically contains photos of just one band member; it's not clear what photos will be in the CDs, and fans often buy multiple CDs until they get their favorite band member.

The practice, while very lucrative for K-pop agencies, is hugely wasteful, says Kim Na-yeon of activist group Kpop4planet.

The group plans to highlight the issue while South Korea hosts United Nations negotiations over a treaty to control plastic waste next week and will take part in a demonstration to raise awareness about the climate crisis this Saturday.

"Most people listen to music via streaming, and most don't even have CD players," said Kim.

Indeed, only 8 percent of South Koreans use physical albums to listen to music, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency's 2024 white paper on the music industry.

It's not uncommon for some fans to buy say 10 CDs, keep the photos, but throw out many of the actual CDs. Some will even buy far more, as often a purchase will automatically put the buyer into a lottery for tickets to meet-and-greet with band members.

Kim Do-yeon, a 24-year-old K-pop fan, said while it wasn't ideal for the environment, she often buys several CDs featuring the same music from her favorite band.

"I buy multiple CDs because each version is packaged differently – in particular, the photos are different," she said.

Such marketing tactics from K-pop agencies have meant that in South Korea, sales of physical albums, which are almost all CDs, have nearly tripled over three years to more than 119 million in 2023, according to South Korean album sales tracker Circle Chart.

That's been a major factor behind a 13-percent jump in global physical album revenues last year, according to the Global Music Report by industry body International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

The amount of plastic used by K-pop agencies has thus surged, hitting about 800 tonnes in 2022, a 14-fold increase from 2017, according to a statement from South Korean lawmaker Woo Won-shik that cited environment ministry data.

The issue of K-pop's marketing tactics has also been debated in parliament's environment and labor committee meetings, but the practice shows no sign of ending.

K-pop agencies emphasize that they are using recycled or eco-friendly materials and have begun issuing sustainability reports.

Asked to respond to the criticism of the industry's CD marketing practices, HYBE, K-pop supergroup BTS' agency, said it planned to greatly expand its offerings of so-called Weverse albums, where fans access music and digital content such as photos by purchasing via a QR code.

Other K-pop agencies, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment, while YG Entertainment referred to its sustainability report.

Kpop4planet argues that the firms owe it to the fans to do more and that unless there is a change in their CD marketing, the use of recycled material in CDs is tantamount to greenwashing.

"Most K-pop fans are young, they're the future generation in their teens or 20s who will be directly affected by a climate crisis," said Kim Na-yeon.

(Cover: Kpop4planet activist Kim Na-yeon works on a sign made of K-pop idol fans' items and CDs that will be used in a march ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Seoul, South Korea, November 13, 2024. /Reuters.)