The LOONA fandom, ORBITs, is well on its way to successfully boycotting the group’s upcoming release. The boycott was the result of a combination of controversy and news surrounding the group’s agency, Blockberry Creative.
In the midst of all this, ORBITs unanimously decided to boycott the band’s upcoming album ‘The Origin Album [0]‘. Sales numbers on Ktown4U, South Korea’s main distribution site, already reflect their success.
As of December 15, 2022, around 2:00 AM local US time, the daily sales on Ktown4U remain at 32 for the set and just 11 for the random version. A few hours later, at 9 o’clock, the number increased to only 36 for the set, while the others remained the same.
Pre-orders for the album have been open for a few days now. The release is scheduled for January 3, 2023. Although the numbers seem extremely poor, it is a win for ORBITs.
been nearly 24 hours & we r at 11 sales 🤭🤭🤭 pic.twitter.com/4nYi0YUCvF
— tay 🏳️⚧️ LOONA IS 12 • CRISIS CORE (@scaaraamoouche) December 15, 2022
ORBITs boycotting LOONA’s comeback results in heavily decreased sales
From the termination of Chuu’s contract alleging that she verbally abused employees, to the news that nine members filed for court orders to terminate their own contracts, the LOONA fandom has had a rocky ride in the past few months. This is also nearly a year after South Korean outlets reported on the lawsuit between Chuu and Blockberry Creative.
As soon as Blockberry Creative released the trailer for LOONA’s new album release, ORBITs started calling for a boycott. According to the union fanbase’s Twitter account:
“The team in charge will continue the boycott until the incriminating comments against Chuu are withdrawn, an apology is made for past mistreatment, and LOONA members are given the option to terminate the contract if they wish.”
As of December 15, 9:00, Ktown4U, a website that shows transparent sales, the group’s album The Origin [0] is still stuck in double digits. Fans celebrated the numbers on Twitter, while constantly saying that the ban was just to shake up the company and that they still love the members of LOONA.
like this is a win!!! this is great!!! we are doing well!! id say most orbits are aware of the boycott and that’s means we’ve done well being loud about it. BE CALM!!!!!!!! https://t.co/e3egP8LjuN
— 삐행님📯 (@SYNKDlVE) December 15, 2022
Some fans even called out Yeojin’s revelation when she shared that she hasn’t earned a single penny since her debut over six years ago. The attitude of the fans was that the company, not the members, benefited from the sale.
Since the artists themselves were not being paid, despite their albums bringing in decent six-figure sales numbers, their boycott plans fueled greater determination.
In other news, Blockberry Creative responded to reports of the nine members filing a court order with a simple “no” to YTN Star on November 28, the same day JTBC released the report. However, fans have noticed a pattern in social media posts where only HyunJin and ViVi upload their photos.
Coincidentally, only HyunJin and ViVi were reported to have not filed a court order to terminate the contract. It remains to be seen if the LOONA fandom can continue to keep up with the boycott of The Origin Album [0] across platforms.