BTS’s Exorbitant “PROOF” Collectors Album Price Becomes Hot Topic

Recently, the price of the deluxe version of SEVENTEEN‘s new compilation album, 17 IS RIGHT HERE, came under fire for how high it originally was. The original album price is 204,900 KRW ($~151 USD), but it is currently on sale for 170,800 KRW ($~126 USD), which is still quite a steep charge.

It seems that the discussion about SEVENTEEN’s album price has brought back memories of when BTS, a fellow HYBE Labels artist, released the collector’s edition of their PROOF album back in 2022.

As explained by their label:

The “Proof (Collector’s Edition)” will be a true collection of the group’s activities of their first chapter as artists. You will feel the identity of BTS throughout the album, from special content including in-depth interviews with each member to the packaging of various compositions to express BTS.

— BIGHIT MUSIC

The album included three CDs along with a photobook, photocard set, and other extras. And for the price of 297,000 KRW (~$217 USD), it could be yours.

While the album came with a lot of inclusions as well as a massive photobook, not everyone thought that the price was worth what they would receive, so declined to purchase.

For a $200+ USD price tag, you could get some decent tickets to quite a few K-Pop concerts!

The SEVENTEEN deluxe album has similar inclusions — plus additional items, such as a sticker set and key rings — but costs around $100 USD less, so it’s hard to really compare the two. Nonetheless, people have voiced their criticism over the steep price of the old BTS collector’s album.

On the opposite side, though, there are actually quite a few fans who think that the price is reasonable for what you get for the collector’s album, and argue that fans don’t need to feel like they have to buy it, since it comes with a whole set of photocards and doesn’t count towards music charts.

Do you think that K-Pop album prices are getting too unreasonable?