Fans of the girl group ARTMS are expressing frustration toward their agency, MODHAUS.
On an online forum, netizens discussed the group's fandom and their growing dissatisfaction with the management's use of the fan community platform, Gravity. Gravity allows fans to vote on significant decisions for the group, such as the official fandom name, the location of their first full-group photoshoot, and the pre-release song selection.
Netizens have compared this system to the method used by tripleS, where fans vote to determine unit members.
However, controversy arose when ARTMS's company began using the voting system for unusual purposes. One example of "Moonshot POV Experience" included voting to place a camera on a specific member to show their point of view during the tour. Fans were "puzzled," questioning why they would vote to see from a member’s perspective when they'd rather see the member themselves.
The situation escalated when Gravity asked fans to vote for one member to film their activities during a rest day on tour. The most-voted members would receive different amounts of "pocket money" based on their ranking. First place would get 300 euros, second place 100 euros, fourth 50 euros, and fifth just 10 euros.
After opening the vote, the company even revealed the current rankings of the members, comparing them outwardly based on individual popularity. Additionally, fans noted that the voting system allows unlimited voting, and you must pay every time you vote.
In the forum, a fan commented:
"What angers the fans even more is that ARTMS consists of five former LOONA members who went through so much to re-debut, and everyone knows how difficult that process was. The previous agency divided the members, manipulated media, and made fans feel disgusted. Knowing this, pretending to care about the members, only to introduce such a vote on Gravity, has made fans explode with anger."
Fans across the board, both Korean and international, appear to share the same dissatisfaction. Comments under ARTMS's YouTube videos detailing the process reportedly show cold and critical reactions toward the system.
The fan further added, "Because the previous agency was so terrible, fans have been holding back their complaints. But now they've reached their limit, and many feel the agency views the members solely as money-making tools."
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