Article: BTS who wrote new history classified as 'J-POP'..Melon, "no changes necessary...later deleted"
Source: SBS
In an interview with SBS reporters, Melon stated, "J-POP is not the concept of a K-POP singer or J-POP singer but rather if the singer has a history of releasing activities in Japan as the reason why BTS was marked in the genre. Corrective action will be difficult. If you go into "detail" and click "type" you can see the group's nationality. Please refer to this part."
After the SBS report, criticism poured out on SNS with fans asking, "so if you release a song in Europe that makes it Europop? Why are working so hard to cover up something like that? Please change it right away? How can you add another country's genre to a group even though they're not Japanese??!"
There were also signs of boycott with many fans writing, "We won't use Melon anymore if you don't change it within the month...we'll move to another streaming site...let's boycott Melon."
After mounting criticism, Melon belatedly made changes deleting the "JPOP" tag from BTS's name on Melon including other groups like TWICE, IZ*ONE, BLACKPINK, IU, Seventeen that were also categorized under the same tag.
In another interview with SBS, Melon official sated, "We have taken measures not to expose J-POP genre in a way that may be misleading to active Korean artists."
- [+809, -3] Melon...must be a Japanese melonㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- [+296, -2] Were you bothered that much? I'm really curious why they wouldn't change it even when fans told them it was wrong
- [+188, -1] Melon outㅋ
- [+90, -0] Why use Melon? I'd rather be on Flo or Genie
- [+82, -1] Crazy
- [+29, -0] We need an explanation! This was intentional. Melon needs to explain what's going on..
- [+23, -0] I've cancelled my membership in Melon even though I was a regular paying member
- [+12, -0] Boycott Melon
- [+11, -0] So they classified them as Jpop just because they promoted in Japan? Is Melon taking the public for fools? I'm really doubting their intentions right now..
- [+9, -0] Another pro-Japanese companyㅋ