71 The Aftermath

In truth, as with most other industries, the cultural industry is one where the power wielded by a particular person or group’s fandom can be formidable.

This isn’t limited to the idol industry. Professional sports, actors, internet broadcasting, and even the gaming industry are all subject to the same phenomenon.

But among them, the idol scene is especially driven by the power of fandoms.

No matter how large an entertainment agency is, it can’t help paying attention even to the garbage posts written on Twitter, and it runs events and promotions while watching those fans’ reactions.

In that sense, Seo Siyeon’s pointed remarks this time sent quite a shock wave through the industry.

Everyone already knew that the WMA awards ceremony had long since become a playground for the Big Three entertainment agencies.

That was why the same complaints came up every year.

Wasn’t this an awards ceremony that favored the Big Three entertainment agencies far too much?

Yet every year, whenever people raised that complaint, it was buried. Because there were far more people in the idol scene who liked idols from the Big Three than those who didn’t.

That was why most people in the idol scene, aside from fans of Big Three idols, harbored complaints about the WMA, whether large or small...