All about K-Pop Collection Culture: Why And How Fans Starts To Collect K-Pop Goods?

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The K-Pop industry is full of various merchandise and goodies available for fans to purchase. May it be the albums, often released with different versions, or the inclusions inside each album, there is a lot of merchandise produced, so much that fans struggle to keep track of everything. Because it doesn't stop at the albums. Even if they are the main good purchased by K-Pop fans, there are many more derived products being sold, such as plushies, official tour merchandise, it can be shirts, bags or event accessories, and stationeries. No matter what kind of merchandise it is, fans are fond of it and want them all.

The production of so many goods is pushing the fans to buy more, to collect in order to have as much as possible. However, collecting all those products comes at a very high cost, not only financially but also spatially and sometimes emotionally. Because that merchandise represents a lot to some fans, it can be heartbreaking sometimes to not be able to buy a certain product, or not obtain it when it was expected, that is especially the case for photocards included in albums. So why is the collection culture so important for K-Pop fans? And how is this collection culture encouraged by the industry itself?

 

1. A Feeling Of Satisfaction

The first and most important reason why K-Pop fans have so much interest in collecting K-Pop goods is that it gives them a feeling of satisfaction and happiness. Of course, who does not like to own things related to their hobbies and passions? It would be the same for other fields like sports or cars, people wou