What we buy is not just an album, but the pathway of Super Junior’s future. Please buy 5JIB.

For promotional purposes, we ask everyone to spread this note. Many thanks!

Still remembering last year. All of us were saying…

【See you in 4jib, no change of heart.】

Looking back, the expectations are still high.

We put in so much effort for 4jib. When the album was released, we bulk purchased, voted digitally, and did physical voting. On top of all this, we still attended all sorts of concerts and contests. In order to let our men see the sea of sapphire blue, we hardly took a breath in between all these activities. Stacks of albums (purchased directly from Korea) could be found in our homes, loads of ELFs could be seen around them wherever we go. Sometimes we complained of exhaustion and tiredness, but we found our own pleasure in doing this for the ones who were worth our efforts.

In the past, Leeteuk and Donghae used to remind us to not band hop, to not have a change of heart as if they were always worrying about losing us. Perhaps they had suffered too much, making them unsure of how to handle such a blessing that was much too difficult to come by. Perhaps it was the wish to own it forever that they were constantly worried about losing it.

I believe all of us are aware that the boys will be enlisting to the army soon. My friend used to joke: “Yongwoon did not eat enough in the army. When he returns we must buy him more meat.” I would reply: “Going forward, there will be more boys waiting to be fed by us”. Actually, short parting should not be a heart wrenching experience as long as we are willing to wait. One day, we will get them all back. They will greet us with their loudest and most confident voices: WE ARE SUPER JUNI OH!

We are tasting bitter sweet sadness, but we can afford to wait, right?

It is a fact that 2010 was filled with heartache. Low budget MVs, low cost performance costumes and degrading award ceremonies. I can only say that the house of sapphire blue was never the most favored within the company. We are not the apple of the eye but more likey adopted children. Nevertheless, despite wearing old clothes, despite not being complete, despite not getting enough attention from our “parents”… Our men still stood tall on the stage, performing in the name of Super Junior. Though not completed in numbers, they stayed committed together, retaining their innocence since the very beginning. Regardless of the times when they experienced valley lows or the current days where they are standing mountain high, we still held close to them. This is a great blessing that heaven has given us.

Soon, the fifth album (5jib) will be coming.

Maybe you have said those discouraging words, “I am not going to fan/ship them anymore, I am going to look for a new love, I am going to love myself more”. You know what? In actual fact, the house of sapphire blue has grown a lot for the period of 2 years, between 3th album (3jib) and 4th album (4jib). We have, from a disunited bunch, congregated to a solid force. Like a plate of dry sand, add some water, you can build a sand castle. We know we have to treasure what we have because we know this did not come naturally for us. What can be more precious than the times we have gone through together? We should thank those who tell us to move on… for its them whohad given us the extra push to move forward and to put in even more effort.

Golden Disk Award (GDA) Daesang… We had it and we “lost” it. What’s there to be afraid of anymore? Now we all know that Daesang is nothing but an illusion. What we carde about the most was not the Daesang… We only wanted to give a beautiful memory to our 83liners before they enlisted. To let them know that whether they were going away or coming back (in the future), ELF would always be with them and would never abandon them.

But at the same time, 4jib was released based on the high sale counts of 3jib. So with the possible release of 5jib would 4jib be successful? To speak the truth, we have made it, but we lost to those in power. We always thought 5jib would be a long way to come, but the grand album sales of 4jib brought us to just that. Our two boys will be enlisting soon, and 5jib will be the paving stone. So how well will 5jib sell? This will decide the fate of Super Junior’s future. Lets think about it, we were never treated as our own. If 5jib sales are bad, what will become of Super Junior in the company? (everyone should know by now, they have re-contracted). In order to ensure that their comfort zone in the company will be preserved, we have to make 5jib a success… by hook or by crook. So what if we lose the awards? We are still here, we can break our own record, we can always get them back. What’s there to be afraid of? ELF are the best, we will not be beaten by such minor setbacks.

So will you be part of the history? Will you let Super Junior’s legacy live on?

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Let’s talk about the concept of pre-order/pre-sales.

Pre-order/pre-sales does not equas to actual album sales. To put it simply: pre-order is what the retailers have ordered from SM. So only after the retailers have sold these albums out, the sales are counted.

【Regarding album sales, it is very simple.】

(1) Bulk purchase should focus on Hanteo Chart as a priority.

• The percentage contribution of Korea’s top 3 charts are very disproportional. Looking at 2009 data, Synnara took up 17.6%, Hottracks took up 10.5%, but Hanteo contributed 71.5%. Due to whatever reasons, there was no official data provided for Hottracks in 2010, while Synnara doesn’t even have any charts. Since Hottracks is now merged with Hanteo, you can imagine the importance of Hanteo. Although the Hanteo Chart does not reflect ALL albums sold in Korea, it is the ONLY chart that records real time albums sales, and it is a chart that is representated by authority. Doing bulk purchase via its chain (such as Hottracks and leesmusic) will ensure the albums we purchase are all counted and reduce the probability of being ‘swallowed’.
• Hanteo franchise overview: Hottracks has many branches; leesmusic supports online purchases; synnara, told to have joined Hanteo’s chain of stores too, has many branches and also offers online purchases. The rest are YES24, Cooltrack, applemusic etc. However, Hanteo did not reveal the list of stores under them, thus there are still much uncertainty. What is 100% sure are Hottracks and Leesmusic, so please try to buy from these 2 chains.
• K-music shows (Music Bank, Inkigayo, M!Countdown) mostly get their album sale records from Hanteo chart (if Music Core doesn’t change, this show won’t have a chart system). Do you remember when Eunhyuk said through twitter that he wanted 13 champions on the music shows? We missed them during 3jib and failed to get them in 4jib due to great competition. If you want 13-weeked champions for 5jib, Hanteo is the only way.

(2) Korean Album Sales chart ONLY recognize K-albums sold from Korean CD shops.

• Taiwanese version, Japanese version, Hong Kong version, foreign versions andpirated versios together with any album bought from websites (YESASIA/DVDheaven) or wholesalers are ALL NOT COUNTED into Korean’s album sales data.
• If your nearby CD shop boss tells you that their volumes are counted, THAT IS A LIE! This is because they all bought those albums at wholesale prices from SM entertainment. Well, I can’t actually say that they lie to you, but rather, he doesn’t even know if they count into the official album sales records. There were witnesses who experienced sellers answering doubts about whether the album sells counted. You need to remember, they are ONLY businessmen, they don’t care about your so-called album sales. Verbal commitment is only to gain the trust of customers, otherwise how else can they do business?

(3) You must get an official receipt with the tax paid.

• The official receipt showing tax, proves that the CDs were bought legally and that the taxes are paid. With this, SM can claim their copyright fees and Super Junior will also get their bonus.
• If what you bought does not come with such receipts, it only meant the CDs were sold but taxes were not paid. These CDs could be cheaper. Even though they are also originals produced and distributed by SME, they are not counted towards the records/charts. They will not be useful for Super Junior on winning any year-end trophies, they also will not be part of the progression of Super Junior’s history.
• As a matter of fact, most wholesalers in your countries choose to purchase directly from companies that artists belong to at a lower price. But the bonus any artist collects can only be based on the sales provided by shops that are counted in the official data. Those albums sold via companies are not counted. Using a lower wholesaler price to buy the albums… retailers can get them to price it at what they are comfortable with, put a lower price to attract customers, or claim that such direct purchase from companies are part of the data. Some even forge receipts to be able to command a higher price, therefore getting a bigger profit for themselves. These profits gained are not counted as part of the official records, but are gained by which parties we do not need to elaborate.
• If you plan to buy from admins or groups that are doing bulk purchases and said that they bought direct from Korea, please be absolutely clear about your bulk purchase’s authenticity and sources, and insist on a Korean tax receipt. If the source cannot disclose which stores they are under (for the Hanteo chart), please refrain from using them.

(4) Focus on buying Version A

• GDA counts all versions; Seoul Music Gayo only counts version A; GAON Chart calculates the sales of individual versions of each album, and not the combined sales of all versions in one album. But regardless of how many versions the company is releasing, please focus on pushing up the sales of Version A (if Version C is for the 2nd comeback, since it’s vital for Music Chart placements later on, we still have to boost its sales.)
• In 2010, we were taken advantage of, simply because the leading gap of our Version A was not huge enough. GDA Daesang was given out base on Hanteo chart data. If all these sales under GAON (which are from other channels) were also reflected in Hanteo Chart, then we would not have been taken advantaged off, being brushed off as “Oh, the difference was small, so we decided to give the award to another”. Also, please do not give them have a chance to make excuse by claiming that those charts (that do not disclose sales) has higher sales data of other artists.

【Lets take a look at 4jib comeback, data provided by Music Bank:】

1st week (5/13-5/16): Ver A-62270, Ver B-not released (MB data total 12145)

2nd week (5/17-5/23): Ver A-41204, Ver B-28417 (MB data total 10387)

3rd week (5/24-5/30)：Ver A-6286，Ver B-11053(MB data total 5505)

4th week (5/31-6/6)：Ver A-4603，Ver B-3603(MB data total 2394)

5th week(6/7-6/13)：Ver A-2811，Ver B-836(MB data total 1917)

We all know that 4jib relied heavily on  the album sales to get into the charts (according to Music Bank, the scores of chart system included digital listening, favoritism, album sales and performance). We had 3 weeks of Number 1 on Music Bank. Every time it was because of the album sales. When our album sales droped, ranking in the chart dropped immediately… We couldn’t even get in as Number 2.

About boosting album sales, we have a suggestion: when we bulk order, we should coordinate with K-ELFs about when to do bulk purchase. Please do not bulk purchase at the same time, within the first week or first day as it affects chart ranking. In order to make them stay longer in the chart, we hope everyone can purchase the volumes by batches (It will be best if you can do the bulk purchase after the 2nd week), let our sales flow long and strong, so they can get more of Number 1!

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My main point is, we should pay a few more dollars using hard cash buying a CD directly from the chain of shops belonging to Hanteo (with a tax receipt), rather than save our money but end up buying a cheaper YET totally useless album that cannot boost the sales data. It is worthless and meaningless, don’t you agree?

We have a huge foreign ELF base, if every one of us buy an album, the result will be phenomenal.

If there would be a 6jib, it will not be in the near future.

There is no point worrying about the unknown. We can only treasure the present and be serious about everything and committed to do our best!

For the longest time, we were the only ones putting in hard work and effort. The house of sapphire blue did not rely on promotions to prove popularity. We did not take anything that did not belong to us. What we have is from pure hard work and ability, sweat and tears. We paved the road ourselves, step by step. We moved up to the stage which said: Asia and even the whole world.

We hope everyone can work as a team.

If we make it, we are the family of sapphire blue.

If we screw it up, we are still the family of sapphire blue.

We are the family of sapphire blue who will embrace and progress together.

See you in 5jib. Never have a change of heart.

If you truly love, please love deeply.

P.S. We are not forcing anyone to buy 5jib, we do not have the right to do so. But we sincerely hope that all ELFs can act as a solid backing for Super Junior, just for the name of ELF. We try to do what we can within our means, as they have suffered and are exhausted after all these years. If even an ELF is not willing to give, then all their sufferings are wasted.Still the same old phrase, please continue to support Super Junior, continue to bulk purchase 5jib, continue to create the glory belonging to Super Junior and ELFs!

110909 Music Bank Backstage During Recording.

Leeteuk: The repackaged album will be released the week after next and there will be Heechul in the music video…
Eunhyuk/Donghae: Really? Don’t lie!
Ryeowook: There will be two other members as well.
Eunhyuk: (talking to himself) If our repackaged album also sells 200,000 copies then we will have 500,000 albums in total. In that case, the GDA…

Please don’t consider whether this is a hint or not, Golden Disk Awards happen only once every year. If we treat Version C like Version A, trying to raise over 200,000 copies won’t be so much of a dream.

Last year Heechul once mentioned that reaching 500 thousand copies would secure a win for GDA… And now it’s Eunhyuk. Last year, we thought Heechul was joking around… but he was right all along.

There’s more than 500,000 ELFs all around the world. If each ELF could support them then its more than possible to achieve this goal! If you have the money, go for it. One ELF saved up her earnings starting August 3rd to September, finally able to order her precious Version A album online (paying over $40). She knows she contributed to the Golden Disk, and she knows it’s worth it. - this paragraph has been modified due to harsh response. Please note that I did not write this, I purely translated it.

Last year a few Petals already guessed that 500,000 albums would secure a win, but since ELF was not that united then and many ELFs were still in the euphoria of the 2009 GDA, it was especially difficult to convince foreign ELFs to work together as a united fandom.

PLEASE feel the need to support both Versions A and C! Super Junior mentions only A and C as the keys to winning the GDA, not B. So please, let us unite and channel all the efforts to focus on A and C for GDA! Our boys really want this, and they can’t do it alone.

Please remember to only purchase from websites that count into Hanteo who show solid evidence that their albums DO count to the Hanteo chain. Buying from local stores in your country WILL NOT COUNT.

ELF fanbases please also channel your sales to focus more on Versions A and C. Please also try not to profit from ELF and make prices reasonable for all to buy so that winning the Golden Disk will become more probable and the albums will become accessible for all.

If you are a true Sapphire Blue ELF who wants to give the 83-line the best gift before and during their enlistment, and to our dear boys in Super Junior who have been working their heart out for this comeback, then let us work together for the much deserved GDA award that they had lost last year.

Perhaps having one GDA taken away from us by force was a blessing in disguise… This heartbreaking event brought the ELF worldwide community to become more united and more organized. How often do you see K-ELFs talking and working along side with us foreign ELFs? Super Junior changed the scene of the K-Pop world, and we ELFs make that mark!

(fr:tw via:@yuki最爱赫J澈 eng trans:Jeslyn Ho, via Michelle Fung’s FB, all ELF who commented on the post)

Please reblog this. Please. This is for Super Junior and ELF’s goal to make their hopes and dreams come true. Don’t you think you can at least help and contribute to making a change by just taking a moment to press the reblog button? It only takes a second to start a chain reaction. You can be part of this accomplishment. You can make our hard work matter. You can make our boys smile.