In a joint decision, domestic music sites have decided to suspend real-time charts at night time.
On July 9, an official from the Gaon Chart Policy Committee announced that it would start to apply a “chart freezing” on real-time charts. According to the announcement, the stoppage will only occur at night from 1 am to 7 am starting on the 11th.
The Committee has decided to implement the new policy to “prevent ‘sajaegi’ (chart manipulation) during the late-night period when the consumption of music is (normally) sharply reduced,” said the representative.
Six major music sites apart of the Committee (Melon, Genie, Naver Music, Bugs, Soribada, and Mnet) have approved the change. Moreover, in addition to these major streaming sites, offline music sources and distributors will participate.
According to reports, the decision was spurred by the success of singer Nilo‘s 2017 ballad “About You” earlier this year. During its consistent reign, it beat out popular music groups such as TWICE and Big Bang — particularly overnight.
As suspicion that foul play was at work and news of “ghost IDs” and sajaegi arose, the Korean Music Content Association (KMCA) asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to investigate. Further, the president of the KMCA Cho Kwang-ho stood by the decision. “Blocking attempt to buy music at night time will increase the reliability of the music charts and improve the reliability of the industry,” Cho said.
Translated by O.C
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