Ilgan Sports and distribution companies delve into the issue of 'digital sajaegi'

Article: [Exclusive] [The reality of digital sajaegi exposed] Which artists got popular through sajaegi?

Source: Ilgan Sports via Naver

The reality behind 'digital sajaegi' has finally been exposed. Ilgan Sports was able to pick up an exclusive copy of a report written by a large-scale distribution company on their response to handling digital sajaegi. The report contains information regarding the main brokers who are the leaders of the digital sajaegi phenomenon, as well as the related expenses and the legal issues involved.

With the report containing as much information as it does, we predict a considerable amount of controversy to hit the music industry soon. Songs that were targeted to be abusing the sajaegi system include a number of the biggest hit tracks of the year, making it a bigger shock to come. Hit tracks are essentially not becoming hits through the love of fans but through outright manipulation.

▶ Rookies spend upwards of $500,000 USD, established artists around $300,000 on sajaegi

For a while, 'digital sajaegi' has been a well known secret of the industry, with tons of talk about certain idol singers hitting all kills on the digital charts with sajaegi. According to investigations, there are about 3~5 brokers active in the country. For $500,000 USD, rookie singers can maintain a top 20 position on the best digital charts for up to 4-5 days. Artists with more popularity/public recognition pay about $300,000 for the same conditions. Most of the brokers used to be viral marketers, so they're familiar with how real time charts on portal sites are worked.

▶ How does 'sajaegi' happen?

The report contains a detailed explanation of the patterns used behind sajaegi. They'll first create or grab hold of a number of accounts and purchase a large amount of digital streaming coupons. Brokers will then wait for the right timing such as early morning when the rest of the public is asleep and use those accounts to stream the song and create traffic. The song can be streamed thousands of times at once in this manner.

Because songs are an average of 3 minutes long, one account can only stream up to 480 times a day. However, according to investigations, there have been accounts found with over 10,000 streams a day through abusing the system with a hack/mask device emulator program.

▶ Which singers got popular through sajaegi then?

Team 'A' used sajaegi to jump from 160th to 28th on a real time chart while team 'B' jumped from 260th to 30th. According to the report, another singer who released a summer comeback hit track has also been found to have abused the system. Despite the singer's popularity, the singer wasn't able to reflect that popularity onto the digital charts, leading the singer's company to give them the extra push. One account was found to have streamed the song over 3,000 times a day, easily helping the song land at the 1st place position.

The sajaegi effect on the digital charts will of course transition over to the music programs that use the ranking system.

Distribution companies are coming up with a response to this controversy and will be launching legal investigations into the brokers and the entertainment agencies involved with the brokers.

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1. [+2,041, -239] Just say it's EXO

2. [+1,656, -52] No wonder real musicians like Nell and YB dropped off the charts while idols with songs not even worth calling songs have been staying at the top... It was all that backdoor money

3. [+1,585, -142] I heard that EXO group won today... So there's a reason a nobody group is winning #1... SM's amazing sajaegi skills

3. [+1,314, -140] SM and EXO ㅋㅋㅋ

4. [+1,132, -110] Isn't it EXO???

5. [+1,151, -140] 100% Girl's Day

6. [+1,020, -47] They better investigate fully into Brave Brothers... I bet there will be a lot of dust to air out~~~

7. [+869, -92] I'm a wolf and you're a beauty... this song, right??

8. [+844, -75] Girl's Day...?

9. [+899, -175] EXO and SISTAR are pretty famous for sajaegi

10. [+646, -84] SM's really put EXO in a trap. I feel bad for the group.

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