I feel like this kind of thing could be really helpful for everyone, not just our fandom, and so for that reason I'm going to leave out instructions for going to music shows since it's different for every group. What I want to emphasize is the things that are sometimes a little hard to pick up on when you start out going to music shows. This is also really helpful in understanding why arguments and fights break out between different fan groups, so probably pretty helpful for fans online as well.
Firstly this is how Music Show recordings work:
1. Pre-recordings start early in the morning. Most groups will record their performance with their fans in the room throughout the day. This means that most performances you see in the music show has a crowd of that groups fans screaming away in the background.
2. MCs may pre-record a few little MC segments before the show starts. MTV The Show prerecord everything (I think possibly because they cater to overseas k-pop fans so one of their mcs, the adorable Zhoumi, is a native Chinese speaker and still sometimes a little stumbly with Korean scripts). Music Core and Inkigayo the MC portions are normally completely live. Not sure about the others.
3. Live Show. Here is where the tech people string together a combination of live MC segments, pre recorded interviews, live interviews, pre recorded performances and a smattering of performances from people who did not pre-record and are just doing their performance on the spot. If a group pre-recorded than they'll come out on stage while their pre-recording is playing and either do the choreography or just fool around and wave at fans and be kind of cute. Fans who are lucky enough to get into the live studio will scream their lungs out for their favorite group in a strange kind of fangirl cheering contest.
4. Post rec - Generally only Inkigayo does this frequently, but after the live is done for the day they will sometimes record different artists for the next week who might be busy doing other schedules and just in order to save time on Sunday morning before the live show airs.
Fan Allocations
So I think I addressed this a little in asks but I want to re-iterate it here. Being a multi-fandom fan and going to music shows is an incredibly precarious situation to put yourself in. I won't say it's completely forbidden because people do it with relatively little drama, but particularly in SM fandoms it's really really bad for 1 huge reason: fan allocations.
So every group has an allocation of fans and every group distributes those allocations differently. In the case of SHINee we might have a 300 person allocation for a SHINee pre-recording and regardless of when they arrive official SHINee World members will always go in first. We have ranks based on what SHINee swag you have basically ^.^;;;; S1 goes into the studio first and to get S1 rank you need official SHINee World membership and matching ID (only distributed 5 years ago and never opened to the public since), SHINee's current album and a print out of your chosen music account that proves you have downloaded SHINee's current song.
The ranking moves down depending on what swag you have. Something like this
S1 - SW Official membership + ID + Odd album + Proof of download
S2 - SW Official membership + ID + Odd album
S3 - SW Official membership + ID + Proof of download
S4 - SW Official membership + ID
S5 - Odd album + proof of download
S6 - Odd album
S7 - proof of download
I recently heard the staff calling for S8 which I can only assume means you showed up with absolutely nothing but....I've also seen staff turn people away for having nothing so it depends on your luck.
Basically most people are S5. We can download all the songs and buy the cds but we can't do anything about getting official membership unless SM opens it up again. And so in SHINee's case if for some reason 300 officials come to recordings, which is often what happens on comeback weekends, no one else has any chance of getting into a recording. Similarly for EXO I think you need to be an official EXO-L to get into anything, however since they only recently opened their membership most fans have that membership already.
Using SHINee as an example, there are several situations where other fandoms have tried using our allocation to gain access to recordings and it's caused huge trouble for us. Mainly situations where girls applied for SHINee World membership back in the day just because they kind of liked SHINee and wanted a fan membership or even girls who were once considered hardcore SHINee fans who later jumped ship to a different group, used their old SHINee World cards to get front access to SHINee's line which often means they're able to attend the live show where their own group will be in attendance.
There are several reasons this is an extremely shitty thing to do. First of all for every one fan that lies and uses SHINee's allocation, an actual SHINee fan is cut and not allowed into the recording. That means less SHINee fans to cheer, support SHINee and be heard in the broadcast. It's rude and if you get caught going into a recording on someone else's fandom you make your own fandom look like trash.
Perhaps more problematically people who sneak into other fandoms allocations usually have nefarious reasons for doing so. Either they want to get closer to their own idol by using an easy nugu groups allocation or they plan to take photos. If you get caught taking photos it can result in an instant ban on your entire fandom. A lot of fansites in particular don't want to risk getting their fandom in trouble so they'll sneak into other fans allocations or even pretend to be part of that allocation when they're not just so their own fandom won't be punished. We have our numbers written on our wrists in the case of SM groups, so it's very easy to rub the pen off once you're inside the recording studio and pretend you're with a different group as long as the staff don't remember your face. Seeing as hundreds of fans can show up for a bigger group, chances are they won't remember which group you were apart of.
So here's how you avoid getting in trouble
1. Choose your poison
If you are indeed multi-fandom and like a bunch of different groups that's fine. But if you plan on going to recordings pick one group and stick with them for their promotional period. Don't go to SHINee one week and then EXO the next because if either groups fans recognizes you they'll think you were lying to see one or the other. It seems bizarre that you can't just like both, but the majority of people who attend recordings are really really hardcore one group only fans. I don't want to argue about whether this is right or wrong because everyone's going to have different opinions about it, but respect that you might get in huge trouble if you swap between lines.
I have been in SHINee line ups and random foreigners have come up to me and we have literally had this conversation:
RF: Hi, this is for Mnet Countdown right? How do I get in?
Min: Well, who are you here to see?
RF: Oh I like everyone. Mainly this new group Sprite fairies but I also like nugunugu14 and XXX.
Min: Ok well, sorry I don't know where those groups are lining up. This is the SHINee line.
RF: oh ok that'll work. How do I join this line.
Min: Ah sorry you can't ^.^;;; It's 11 oclock and we're about to go into our recording. We were here at 9 to get numbers.
RF: Oh well is there a general line for the live show so I can see everyone?
Min:.....I don't know. I'm a SHINee fan. I only go to see SHINee...
RF: (then attempts to just go into any old line because she can and gets yelled at)
Now I could spend all my spare time explaining things to strangers but the thing is A) I don't know how other fandoms work and I don't have any reason to find out. It's your job to look up how to get into a recording based on what fandom you're going through. And B) frankly if you're going to try and casually use my fandom's allocation just so you can get into a recording I'm not interested in helping you.
Also take note SHAWols: do NOT use other fandoms allocations to see SHINee. It's rude and disrespectful and if you're caught and they find out you're a SHAWol it opens up every other fandom ever to criticize us. Our fandom is notorious for frowning on people who try and take advantage of us. We have routinely publicly shamed other fandoms for doing the wrong thing and using our allocations. You do not want to be the person who does the very thing that we disdain so thoroughly; it opens up to a sea of criticism from everyone else.
2. Don't cheer for other groups
This sounds really harsh but it's a kind of fandom culture. If you are in SHINee's line, you only cheer for SHINee. You might have a huge crush on nugunugu14's lead singer, but you're not part of their allocation. If you get too enthusiastic about a different group it makes the fan staff suspicious that you're using our allocation just so you can see a different artist. Which, as I mentioned above, could mean you have nefarious intentions or you're just taking up our numbers. I haven't seen it happen in SHINee but I think it was a Beast fangirl that I saw once get her fancard taken and cut because she was freaking out for a different group during the recording process. Now sometimes you'll go into a recording for ONLY your artist and then come out again, but sometimes if the studio is in a rush they'll record a chunk of artists at the same time without rotating the fans in and out. So in that case you have to sit through the recordings for may be 5-6 artists. In this case you should be polite and clap and be respectful to that artist and their hard work, but if you start screaming their name and cheering and carrying on, you're going to stick out a lot and bring the wrath of the fan staff down on you.
I should elaborate here and say that there are exceptions to this rule. We went to a Jonghyun recording once and Amber was recording straight after and the fanstaff gave us the fanchant and we nailed it. We also sometimes have to play substitute for groups or solo artists that don't have that many fans and cheering is encouraged in that situation. It's only really a big no-no when the group is another idol group or a fandom known for smuggling their fans into our allocation.
3. Don't bring your whole music library
Only bring cd's and merch for SHINee. I remember I attended a show all the way back in 2010 during Lucifer for Inkigayo. The girl next to me in line was also foreign and we started chatting a little bit. She was visiting on holiday and didn't speak Korean at all. She had gone shopping at Myeong Dong the day before though and still had about 7 different cds from other groups in her bag. The fan staff saw her with all those cds and struck off her number and mine as well because she assumed we were friends. I was really really upset. I didn't even know this girl but because she looked like she was equipped to go in any line she could, I didn't get to see SHINee at Inkigayo that day. The staff wouldn't listen to me when I said we didn't know each other.
Another example is a Japanese fan during To Heart was in the Key line but had a tonne of merch for Woohyun. The woman ended up being a fan of both Key and Woohyun and was allowed to stay but when SHAWols saw all her Woohyun key chains and phone lockscreen they thought she was a Woohyun fan trying to use Key's allocation. This sounds insane but since they were allowed an equal amount of fans each, it was really frowned upon to go in the wrong line because, once again, you're using the wrong allocation. If a bunch of Woohyun fans showed up in the Key line then it meant that Key had less fans in the room which really isn't fair to him. I've heard a lot of people online say things like: oh but they're friends why can't we all just get along and love them both. And here's what I have to say about that: I am not a Woohyun fan. I'm not an Infinite fan. I've said this in previous posts but some, SOME, of the Infinite fans treated us like absolute crap and, even worse, they treated Key like crap. Which I won't ever forgive because it was rude and completely uncalled for. So no. I don't want to cheer for Woohyun. I'll be polite and clap for him and I won't say anything nasty and I'll keep my opinions to myself for Key's sake, but I will not ever be his fan. This is also why going into the correct line is really important; fans have a lot of pride in their chosen fandom and their chosen community. By lying and pretending to be a part of that unspoken community, you're pretending to be a part of a group of people who share common interests and ideals for your own personal gain. I guess it's like when Jon Snow infiltrated the Wildlings in Game of Thrones so he could get information for The Watch. He's a nice dude and he did right by them in the end but he still lied and spied on them. Jerk.
4. Learn your fan chant
Recordings aren't just a game. It's SHINee working and SHAWols working. This is one thing I really really don't get. Fans are only allowed into recordings because the studios need a free audience to create a certain atmosphere. We don't have to pay to see them, it's completely free and in exchange you're expected to fan chant and cheer. I see so so many people who come to recordings and just stare like a dead fish even though the fan staff are practically begging us to chant and cheer. Seriously, fan chants sound amazing on the broadcast. You might feel shy at the time, but people are going to judge you a hell of a lot more for not doing your fan chants, than they are for shrieking like a banshee. Also we need to keep in mind that studios only allow fans in in the first place because they want fan-chants and background noise for the broadcast. If fans aren't fan-chanting and cheering there's really no point in letting them into the studio.
5. DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS
Seriously. Please, please, please do not take photos. I can not stress this enough, it is so important. Don't even use your phone in the studio. Please respect that you're so lucky to experience the recording and share fan accounts to your hearts content, but please just leave the camera alone for the day. We get into huge huge trouble for taking photos. If we're caught our entire fandom will be banned. It's a really big deal. I have an entire post about photo-taking over here.
6. No screaming things at the idols
When you go into the studio the staff will say: no gae-in ment. Gae-in ment means individual comments and basically what they mean is you shouldn't shout random things at SHINee. The fan chants and cheering is ok, as is answering questions if they ask us but if all 300 fans are screaming questions and comments at SHINee it gets extremely chaotic and noisy. The studio staff get annoyed, SHINee can't concentrate on what they're doing and the fan staff start yelling at us to be quiet - essentially we get scolded like naughty kids in front of SHINee themselves. Not fun.
Falling under that: keep your comments to yourselves. I was once standing in a mosh pit extremely close to the stage at a recording for Music Core. It was during Everybody and we were doing a pre-recording for the next week at 2am on a Saturday because for some reason MBC weren't doing a live recording the next week. Anyway SHINee came out and there was the usually greeting and cheering and SHINee were fooling around a bit and playing, but the fans were keeping pretty quiet inbetween the recordings because it was very early in the morning and SHINee looked really tired. In any case there was a group of foreign girls who were visiting on vacation or a short studying stint and they were loudly saying stuff like: 'OMG Minho is like a FROG. Look at him JUMP. OMFG He SO SO CUTE. OMFG though Onew looks SO TIRED and IN PAIN. blah blah blah'. They continued having loud conversations, saying some pretty strange stuff throughout the entire recording. First of all: Onew did not look like he was in pain, calm down girls.
Now I'm not saying you can't say things like this but keep your voice down or say it outside. It's not like what you're saying is very complicated English and SHINee can all understand that much I can guarantee you. They can also hear you loud and clear when you're that close. I'm an English teacher and my kids are pretty low level by the English education system here, but even they could understand that much. It was really embarrassing for me personally to hear that kind of thing said so loudly and they were getting dirty looks from everyone including the staff.
Oh and this is different for other fandoms, but SM fan staff do not allow banners. You're only allowed your official SHINee lightstick and your official SHINee balloon which they'll generally give you at the venue. Don't bring signs or banners with you because they're not allowed and they will be confiscated and never returned.
7. Listen to the staff
The fan staff are constantly yelling things and giving check in times and meeting places and rules and instructions and it's really important that you listen. These fan staff do not speak English and it is not their job to play translator for you so if you don't speak Korean you better make a friend who does, ask other foreigners who are willing to help or be really good at taking cues from everyone else. Similarly you also need to listen very carefully to what the venue security say because some of them can be really crabby and will quickly start shouting at you if you aren't doing the right thing. Generally though they're pretty easy to please. Just don't run anywhere inside the venue. Always walk.
I also feel like the fan staff deserve a fair amount of respect. In the case of SM, the fanstaff apply based on their fandom and are hired and trained and never paid. They are volunteer workers and while that sounds like a sweet gig: going to recordings and seeing idols all the time, it really isn't all it's cracked up to be. The SM fan staff are always needed, every single week. They manage lines for not only groups that are promoting but also MC lines for Minho at Mucore, Key at Mnet and the Red Velvet girl at Inkigayo I think? Not too sure, but the point is they all originate from their own fandom seemingly and have to perform duties as staff for ALL groups. We have one fan staff who is absolutely a SHINee fan 100%. I see her at Key's musicals sometimes, not as a fan staff but as a fan. She works with a girl who was hired for SuJu and one or two EXO fans and a SNSD fan etc etc etc. I'm not sure their fandom affiliations exactly, because generally they don't advertise it, but they all do have their own fandoms and yet they still have to organize all SM fan groups which can be a huge pain in the arse recently since SM overlaps so many promos now-a-days.
8. Do not be late
Don't be late for check ins given by the fans or the fan staff because if you're not there when your name/number is called they'll only call out for you two or three times quickly then and there, and then they'll banish you from the line. No arguments if you get struck you won't be allowed back in line. They do this because otherwise no one would show up for check ins on time and we would never be able to get to recordings on time. If you need to go to the bathroom or get a drink, try and confirm with the fan staff if there is time to run off quickly ans they'll usually let you know if you have time before the recording. Alternatively if all the Korean girls are scampering off to the bathroom, you follow them like a lost kitten and save yourself some trouble. I know it sounds like you're in elementary school asking for permission to go to the bathroom but honestly the security staff in charge of organizing fans that the music companies hire are pretty harsh and impatient. The fan staff do what they can to help us out and get as many fans into the room as possible, but the security guys deal with screaming hysterical fangirls every day of their lives so they're sometimes pretty bitter twisted dudes who equal parts fear and hate us (I'm joking, but seriously: some of them are super grumpy).
9. No cutting line
This does not happen very often at all, but I have seen people try and do it and it wasn't pretty. You get given a number, you stay in your spot in line according to that number. Don't try and cheat the system or sneakily move up in line because they check your number again when you go in and you'll just get sent back and left feeling embarrassed. I don't think it really needs saying but here you go~~
10. Safety first
So this sounds more like a public service announcement but no jaywalking, running, screaming, jumping over fences or rioting. Why am I writing this in relation to recordings? Because people do all of these things. I'm not joking. I have seen things get out of control and this kind of rubbish go down. Never SHAWols, I would like to point out, and in general not many fan groups behave like this, but I'm sure you guys can fill in the blanks as to which fandoms do. Every time I say their name I get an influx of hate and abuse in my ask.fm so I'll leave that song unsung for today. In any case spending my early mornings huddled on the other side of the MBC property listening to girls shriek like animals was quite the experience to say the least. Jaywalking is especially policed at Inkigayo where they routinely ban entire groups of fans for jaywalking out the front of their building. It's a really massive, highly trafficked road so the SBS staff are totally on top of illegal crossing.
Just be careful of the safety of not only yourself and the people around you. When large groups of people gather like at music shows the potential for high emotionally charged situations is real and I've seen the occasional argument or fight break out. Just....as DBSK would say; keep your head down ^.^
To finish this up I would also like to very gently remind everyone that a Music Show recording is not a fanmeet or a concert. SHINee, or whoever, is not there to play around with fans. They need to concentrate on what they're doing and pay attention to a million things not limited to camera angles, choreography, their expressions, instructions from staff and concentrating past the bright lights, constricting costumes and screaming fans. Every girl in that room is a massive SHINee fan and SHINee literally can not pay attention to everyone and greet everyone and smile and wave and play around because their goal is to get the recording finished as quickly as possible. SHINee are nothing if not professional and to my eyes it looks as if the studio staff have a good relationship with SHINee, no doubt because they're polite, efficient and they get shit done quickly and painlessly.
So I guess the TLDR is this: get a friend that can speak Korean, don't take photos, cheer loud as you can and don't piss anyone off. And have fun~^.^ All of this sounds really daunting. I've kind of made it sound like you're likely to set a bomb off at any given moment, but as long as you keep all these no-nos in the back of your head you'll be completely ok. You're in for a long day of waiting, but a music show is an interesting experience. Not everyone's cup of tea, but certainly an interesting story to write home about ^.^;;;
Any questions feel free to ask in the comments below or if you want to ask anonymously head over to my ask.fm
No comments:
Post a Comment