#BTS_Tutorial

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Pandora's Unlimited Looping

As Whoopi Goldberg once famously said in the movie Ghost: "You in danger, girl." Many chart accounts on Twitter are saying our streams have Jimin dropping out of the Top 20 already.

Looping on Pandora is a crucial strategy at a critical time when YouTube is deleting views, radio is reluctant, and our Spotify playlists must support several members. We must make use of all tools available.

Please read this post and share the link to this tutorial with all big accounts and your social media. We need all hands on deck.

Pandora is an old and trusted streaming service that counts for Billboard charts.

If you have a free 90-day premium trial, it lets you make your own playlist that you can loop for 24 straight hours without clicking around or signing in.

Here's why you don't want to just use the free version:

--the streams count three times LESS than premium streams

--Pandora will auto-play other songs in between the songs you want

--there are constant ads you have to sit through to get to a song

So just bite the bullet and use a free trial. It's good for months and they will remind you before you get charged!

Okay, so, let's assume you've been a good ARMY and you've made your free premium Pandora account.

You want to start straight away searching for songs to save into MY COLLECTION.

Today, we need to make a playlist to promote Face--specifically Like Crazy. (We can also use this strategy later to help all of BT'S songs. Our goal right now is to prevent freefall in Week 3 before D-Day is out. But this will be good practice for all our boys once we get it down pat, especially if YouTube doesn't get straightened out!)

My playlist looks like this:

Now look here. There are 1,440 minutes in a day. We know Like Crazy is 3:32 minutes long. In theory, you could loop this song 410+ times in a day and all those plays will count. We know that 150 premium streams is the equivalent of buying the song once, so looping like this is like buying the song twice that day.

THIS IS HOW WE BEAT THE DROP IN SALES AND CULLED VIEWS.

I am not saying you shouldn't buy. You should. In fact, both SHERRY and JIMIN FUNDS will be prioritizing Like Crazy digitals in Week 3, so please buy if you are US/PR ARMY and can make new accounts!

Either way, when you make a Pandora playlist of all of Jimin's Like Crazy versions, remember to click that loop button once on the bottom ribbon:

And then just sit back every day and let those streams pour in.

Puppykitties, I know you must be so tired. I have an eyestrain migraine a mile wide and am not supposed to be on the computer right now. I'm certain the last thing you want to do is delve into making new accounts when you're already working hard.

Word on the street is that using Pandora WORKS WONDERS:

We already know this is a tried and true technique for other K-pop fandoms whom I will not be mentioning here. I appreciate their hard work and respect the knowledge they've earned. Please leave them alone. ARMY needs to focus on BTS and make good use of the techniques they have learned.

For visual learners, here's an instructional video on setting up Pandora, but honestly, it's pretty intuitive.

PLEASE COPY THE LINK TO THIS TUTORIAL AND SEND IT TO EVERY MAJOR JIMIN-SUPPORTING ACCOUNT YOU KNOW ON TWITTER AND TUMBLR.

I know we have some very important conversations that need to be had, but I strongly feel we need to put shipping and solo discourse aside right now. We are losing precious time because ARMY is reluctant to use this app. But we cannot maintain buying records like we did for the first two weeks of Face.

We NEED to use Pandora--in addition to requesting radio play and using Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, and Facebook-- and hope those streams supplement sales drops.

Please do not abandon any platform even if they frustrate you. I'm just saying I don't think I can over-emphasize how crucial Pandora is going to be for Week 3 for Jimin. And isn't Jimin what unites us all?

I really, really need your help to get all major Jimin accounts familiarized and on board with this, so Jimin fans can hop on Pandora early this week and go hard. It is the most effective use of our energy right now.

FIGHTING!

Love, Roo

P.S.

To my friends tagged below, any help spread the word is deeply appreciated. Thank you all!

@chikooritajjk

@stormblessed95

@shellbells-things

@ejassy

@mariajmajesty

@kanmom51

@kmgoogiemin

@sunandmoonjikook

@minggukieology

@dgtn

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Buying vs. Streaming

Attention puppykitties!

On March 24th, Jimin's album FACE is up against titans, including Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey. His antis have stated they WILL be giving them boosts just so he will rank even lower.

In addition, we will never get radio play like those artists because BTS will not bow to payola rules and pay for play. BTS has only ARMY.

So the best way to counteract that deficit is to buy the album. For example, you can chart a song by streaming it 150 times or buy it once, and it's the same count toward Billboard.

Jimin's album has 6 songs and is under a half hour long, so you can stream 900 songs nonstop for a day and a half, or you can buy 1 album. Given there are charts that count for 24 hours and for a week, buying is often the most expedient way to guarantee a spot on the Hot 100 and BB200.

For US and Puerto Rico, digital and physical albums are given the same weight in the charts (except for in WeVerse--digital songs in that platform do not count for Billboard).

I'm gonna link to Amazon CDs that will count for charts because Amazon products can be tricky with sellers from all over the world. I think you'll easily be able to find the albums on WeVerse (the digitals won't count toward Billboard but the CDs will) and the digitals on iTunes (this will count as a pure digital sale).

Here is where you can preorder:

Also at Target--it can be a little tricky because the cheaper version for $19.99 doesn't let you choose which version you end up getting. So here are both albums:

Now, let me say to my friends on here who are pinching pennies out of necessity: YOU ARE NO LESS OF AN ARMY IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO BUY ALBUMS. Nor are you less of an ARMY if you have to prioritize the typically cheaper digital version (it still counts, it just makes the artists a little less money and you don't get stuff like photocards and all). I'd love it if you could reach out to funding accounts for help; they often will prioritize digital and that totally counts too, both for charts and awards in Korea.

Whatever you do, be really careful of bundle deals with a bunch of ancillary accessories as those often will NOT count for Billboard--be sure to check before buying.

And even if all you do is stream on free trial premium YouTube and Spotify accounts, you are still helping. So no shame. No censure.

The reason we have success as an ARMY is so we can each of us contribute to the best of our abilities, and cover for each other when we need to tap out. If you're not in the US or Puerto Rico, you can stream in a different time zone and give those ARMYs some much needed rest or a chance to work at their jobs.

We all have our part to play.

So cover for other ARMY however you're able!

Whatever you can do, do it and take it seriously!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Night-Streaming

Our first day of supporting Set Me Free Pt. 2 is done! For those of you in my time zone on the east coast of the US, it's time for much-needed sleep!!

AND YET. Night-streaming is something we cannot neglect.

Billboard Hot 100 tallies sales and streams by WEEK. So our work isn't "over" for this single (or the album) -- far from it. However, we do get a bit of a break, because now that the first 24 hours are up, we can employ playlists instead of manually engaging (as much).

Here's a good sleeping playlist for Spotify that covers BTS' new solo songs and goes for 8.5 hours. You'll want to log into a new free trial premium account to start fresh for the day, then click to save this playlist. (After the first 20 times each of these songs play on that account, it won't count for Billboard, but whatever you stream after that will toward the artists' overall stream count.)

If you have a Stationhead account, consider joining a streaming party, as that will ensure your connected Spotify account avoids bot behavior by streaming without interaction.

For YouTube, you might try this sleeping playlist, which also supports other BTS' solo and milestone songs.

A little note: YouTube has an auto-pause feature you need to be aware of when streaming away from your device. A “Video paused. Continue watching?” message will surface on your screen if you're around 30 minutes of uninterrupted watching on mobile, 60 minutes on web, or 180 minutes on TV.

I engage a mouse jiggler to keep my computer awake when I'm away from my keyboard, but YouTube still registers my lack of interaction. So I just downloaded this Chrome browser extension called AutoTube--YouTube Nonstop and it's supposed to override the pause function. I'll let you know if it gives me issues. (There are other extensions you might want to try to override pause, but do NOT engage any that involve looping. Avoid looping if you're trying to chart something, always.)

And when you wake up, of course continue the same as always: vote for MCountdown, trend hashtags, spread the sound on other platforms, and stream while engaging every 90 minutes or so. Use free trials for premium streams on all your devices--when the time comes, prioritize the title track. Buy as much as you can of the single and albums, physical and digital; reach out to funding accounts for help if you need. And remember--this is a marathon, not a race. Everything we do this week is leading up to working out the best strategies for FACE.

I just want to end tonight with a note of sincere appreciation for your hard work and thanks for the positive community we are creating by supporting Jimin and BTS with everything we've got. I'm proud of you, puppykitties!

Good night.

Love, Roo

[roo-bastmoon]

Protect your Spotify playlists

Okay, a handful of Jimin playlists was one thing. Now there's a systematic assault happening on ARMY playlists. It's very important that if you see a Spotify playlist without a title, you don't use it--it means it's been reported and is in the process of being taken down (even if it did nothing wrong).

SO YOU NEED TO COPY PLAYLISTS TO YOUR LIBRARY AND KEEP PRIVATE. It will still count toward the charts. But it won't get reported.

Jen shows you how to copy hers here:

Tutorial for making playlists:

[roo-bastmoon]

Did you know you have to delete your purchases for them to count?

So best to make a new account just for streaming on Apple Music, and not use your real life iTunes account. Click the video for step by step visual guides on the rules around Apple.

SUBSCRIBE TO ARMY STREAM TEAM'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR IMPORTANT GUIDES ABOUT HOW TO STREAM FOR BTS.

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Discord

This will be my last "tutorial" for a while, as now is the time to focus on active participation for FACE. But before I put these little instructional posts to bed, I wanted to mention that DISCORD is a free communication platform. You can text, chat, share music, games, and videos once you get invited to go into community servers…

You can even apply to join the fan-run online school Bangtang Academy and learn Korean from scratch. Did you know about Bangtang Academy? (I don't have the time to study two hours every week right now but life goals...)

I digress...

A discord server kinda looks like this:

There are different communities and they have forums and channels where you go to discuss different topics.

I’m still learning how to use Discord, but I am slowly figuring out how to see BTS content with other fans.

So far, I've joined the Magic Shop, where I can stream BTS content with other fans.

There's also a Jikook community that just started up.

If you'd like more background on Discord, here's a video tutorial:

Please note: This app doesn’t do anything to help your idol chart or win awards. It’s literally just a forum where you can safely share content. I say safe because folks have to be invited to join a server and it's unlikely to leak. This might be a better place to privately discuss things so that words like “hickey” don’t trend and make it into predatory K media.

Feel free to check it out if you like but no worries if not!

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS TUTORIAL: FREE VOTE

NOTE: FOR FACE, WE NEED TO INSTEAD FOCUS ON A NEW APP CALLED SUPER STAR X, WHICH IS COMING SOON.

However, please also think about downloading FreeVote and getting familiar with it, as it will count for other BTS-related things in the future.

This app counts toward The Inkigayo Chart, a music program related record chart on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) that gives an award to the best-performing single of the week in South Korea.

You get the app from the app store and click on the little world icon at the top right to select English as your official language.

You click the card with the person icon on it at the bottom left to create an ID and password for your account.

Then you can watch content to earn hearts or stars that you use to vote.

I will be honest with you, I know this one is important for FACE but I find myself very reluctant to earn extra hearts by following instagrams or signing up for ads when not everything translates into English so I don’t know what I’m getting into, even with a dummy account.

If you’re comfy with that, you can find a step by step tutorial below:

Also here:

Mostly I just watch free ads and collect some hearts in the hopes I can help a little when FACE's pre-release of SET ME FREE PT. 2 drops on March 17th.

If anyone has lots of experience with this app, I'd really appreciate some tips and pointers because I find it a little intimidating.

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[roo-bastmoon]

Checklist for Face Day

While you wait around today, please use a QUEUE on YouTube instead of a playlist, as this is the last day of tracking for Set Me Free Pt. 2 and it takes too long for playlists to count. Here's a good one.

Around 8pm EST, you need to start playing Jimin-discography playlists on Spotify to set him up with a high position on their Daily Global Artists chart.

Later tonight, Jimin's interview will appear on Jimmy Fallon, on NBC at 11:35pm EST--approximately 25 minutes before the Like Crazy Music Video Premiere. If you cannot watch it in your region, Our Magic Shop on Discord will be hosting a stream of it under the magic-shop-media thread.

Jimin may also go live on WeVerse before the premiere drops. You're gonna wanna have a few screens around you tonight so you don't miss out.

It is crucial you use another device while all this is going on so you can tune in for a clean stream of the Music Video Premier because those views will be added for the charts and it is extremely unlikely a premiere video will be frozen or deleted.

Cometh the hour, you watch the crap out of the music video--you like, you share, you send it to all your friends and social media accounts and encourage folks to watch it.

Next you're going to want to go to all your pre-sale emails and actually go in and download your purchases. If you do not download your sale, it does not count for the chart.

Then you're going to go into every iTunes and Amazon account you have and you're going to order a digital copy of the FACE album if you haven't already.

One credit card or gift card = 1 account = 1 album purchase. Buy as many as you can afford. There is no faster, cleaner way to chart an artist than to buy their digital album.

Then it's time to actively stream on your premium accounts.

TURN OFF YOUR VPN!

FACE will feature five original songs in this order:

“Face-off”

“Interlude: Dive”

“Like Crazy”

“Alone”

“Set Me Free Pt.2”

In addition, the tracklist will be bolstered by an English-language version of “Like Crazy.”

Stream the whole album but our main job is to prioritize Like Crazy Korean and English versions.

You know the drill. Search manually on YouTube for the first 24 hours. Play it all the way through at 51% volume. Click around on other Jimin or BTS music videos for about a minute. Search again. Play again.

Prioritize both versions of Like Crazy but build in diversity, pause, adjust things, act like a human. You can listen to it 50 times, then you need to switch to another premium account.

Because YouTube is being a little bitch and fucking up the stream count for Jimin right now (don't stop using it--every stream is critical right now, but you can be grump about it while you do), I also signed up for a free trial of Apple Music today and have liked Jimin's profile there.

DO NOT ADD HIS SONGS TO YOUR LIBRARY. If you bought FACE songs from iTunes, go into your Apple Music account and delete them from your library for now. If they are in your library, Apple Music will automatically play from there and it won't count for charts.

Just go under Jimin's profile and play them that way. You can keep playing them from your main account without having to switch Apple Music accounts. No limits on number of plays, just click around on other songs for 30-60 seconds from time to time and don't loop. This is gonna be critical for supplementing YouTube handicaps.

While you're working on that, you gotta fire up your premium Spotify accounts. Make sure all your accounts are following the artist as a monthly listener.

You know you can play something 20 times on Spotify and then you're done with that account for that song for the day. So keep an eye out for how many times the songs of FACE play in your list and set an alarm so you can switch to the next premium Spotify account and keep working.

There are two ways of charting FACE on Spotify. You can play the album all the way through, with the songs all in order, or you can prioritize the title track and use the rest of the album and other BTS songs as filler.

I'm gonna be following JRJ-OT7's lead on this because Jennifer has more than earned my trust when it comes to chart goals, but if you want to tailor your own experience, here are examples of how to flesh things out (album order vs. title track priority):

If you're making your own lists and queues and whatnot, please remember to include fillers like On the Street, Smoke Sprite, and Vibe as new releases and the Astronaut, Wildflower, More, Fake Love, and Sweet Night for milestones. Please also add in Left and Right, Dreamers, and Stay Alive as we only have four days left to help Jungkook break the 1 Billion Record.

So to recap:

*Watch and share the hell out of the premiere video.

*Prioritize the title track Like Crazy (English and Korean versions) but it's a short album so hit all songs in your playlists.

*Download your pre-sale purchases.

*Prioritize making digital purchases today. Make new accounts and use gift cards if you need to.

*Premium streaming accounts count three times as much in the charts. Use free trials for YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Stream the album like crazy on all of those. (If you have premium accounts, you can open all of those in their own browsers and hit 'em all at once on one device if you have to--headphone recommended so you don't go nuts.)

*Delete Face songs from your library in Apple Music first.

*Search manually the first 24 hours on YouTube, then switch to playlists.

*Shazam the songs as you play them.

*Never loop. Never shuffle. Never use VPN.

*Ignore the bullshit from antis and drama queens. Today and tomorrow belong entirely to our artist. We focus on Jimin and only Jimin, and we encourage each other with a positive attitude, good humor, and sheer grit.

I intend to be awake and stream actively for 24 straight hours starting at midnight EST tonight, so I'm going to hop offline now and get some rest.

If you have questions, you might want to take a look at the BTS Tutorial masterlist.

Good luck and God's speed, puppykitties! Let's lift our boy up!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: REPORTING TO HYBE

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people on the internet and out in the world with hate in their hearts. Some are annoying, and some are dangerous.

In the past year, BTS members have endured:

--home invasion

--mail tampering

--info doxing

--leaked photos

--selling stories and fake scandals to the press

--clout chasing by brands following their accounts

--stalking at restaurants, airports, stadiums, gyms, and homes

--netizen threats of cutting, suicide, rape, and killing of their families or themselves

As a result, some members have:

--refused to come online for months

--deleted all their personal content and stuck only to official business

--removed social media apps (worth millions) altogether

--come on Lives and WeVerse and BEGGED us to remember they are human and not to follow them or put other people in danger

Normally it’s enough to just block haters who talk shit on the internet and report their posts to the platform hosts.

But when a Tannie’s in danger of being attacked or violated, it’s time to kick things up the chain to BigHit so their Security Team can be aware of it.

If you see issues online that can cause harm to one of the members, please keep the following things in mind:

Never interact with the poster(s). Do not engage. The more engagement they have, the less likely they can be suspended quickly.

Do not repost or quote retweet—you are only helping to spread the harm. If you MUST share, you keep it to your DMs and private forums. Share with trusted people so that they can quietly report it, not so they can gossip about it.

Immediately start gathering evidence. Take a screenshot, bookmark the link, note the IP address. Write down the date, the user nickname, the post’s URL, and a description of the issue plus any pertinent info on the poster. Anything that might serve to send them a Cease and Desist or take legal action.

Email your evidence to BigHit at protect@bighitmusic.co.kr

Sometimes people will craft template messages you can use—as a guide. Don’t copy lines verbatim or your email will get trapped in a spam folder. Change the subject line and the sentences a little.

This email process is for harmful content, breaches of privacy, security threats. It’s not where you go to report a piece of fanart you think is distasteful or someone expressing negative opinions about BTS’ music. This is for ACTIONABLE BREACHES.

Please do not ever contact BTS’ members friends, family, staff, collaborators or brand ambassadors. That is a serious boundary breach, even if you have good intentions. Stick to the official channels and just email the company.

Go ahead and bookmark this post in case you need a quick and easy reference:

Just a note: The maknae line get it bad, and Jimin gets it the worst. Please don't get into dogfights. Just quietly, calmly, and diligently report. If you feel really strong about it, join a reporting group.

ARMYs exist to support BTS. Protecting their privacy and safety is part of that. We will never get another Jikook live or TMI session if they do not even feel safe in their own homes.

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS TUTORIAL: MNET PLUS

Mnet Plus is an app that helps you vote for your favorite artists to get Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA).

It also has a lot of other kinds of engagement like clips, YouTube videos, star point voting contests, but I only care about helping BTS win awards so I’m just gonna talk about MAMA here.

You get the Mnet app from the App store, then click the MY ACCOUNT (the person icon) and set up a login. (For example, for things like this, I use roo.voting@gmail.com). I do not allow notifications or tracking. I never check that email after initial account set up.

Verify your age, put in your one time verification number that they will send to your email, and set up your profile picture and all that jazz.

Here's a step by step screenshot of how to sign up:

On your home page, you’ll see slides. Go to the contest you want to vote on. Click it to vote. You’ll have to prove you’re not a bot by doing a photo captcha and answering some questions, logging in, things like that.

Sometimes it crashes. Don’t panic, just be patient.

Here’s a short video tutorial:

Now I'm a newbie to voting but even I know that MAMA is a big huge hairy deal, so just I recommend you just download the app, follow the voting accounts on Twitter for your favorite artists, and when the appropriate contests come up, vote.

Motivation to vote for fave:

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: WEVERSE SHOP

WeVerse is a platform where we can watch BTS content and interact on the forums with the artists.

WeVerse SHOP is where we buy official and exclusive merch.

Gonna recommend you bookmark those two links.

Did you know you can even set up WeVerse on your smart TV and watch content on your big screen? For tutorials on how to set up accounts, go here:

Before we get into it, I’m just gonna make a plug that you try to purchase your ARMY annual membership. Even and especially while the boys are in military service, your membership lets HYBE know there’s still interest and engagement for our boys and that they have SOME funds and fans they can depend on coming in from BTS-related content. I can’t afford the fancy exclusive expensive membership but the $22 a year gets me a free pass to all kinds of cool paid media like behind the scenes footage and extra content, too.

Okay, now back to the shop. So far, I’ve found WeVerse shop to carefully package their folios and albums. I honestly can't afford much because I want to prioritize purchasing the music more than the merch. However, for international ARMY, WeVerse Shop purchases often come with steep shipping costs and delays, so just be mentally prepared to wait for your hoodie or whatever several weeks if not months longer than our K-diamond ARMY have to. Them’s the breaks.

In terms of helping your bias chart, physical albums (CDs, vinyls) sold on WeVerse USA Shop WILL count toward Billboard 200 if you live in the US. (So will physical albums in Target—and some physical albums on Amazon IF they come from the official BTS source. You absolutely gotta check the fine print and see if they tell you which charts their sales might count toward, or just don’t risk it.)

Sales on WeVerse GLOBAL Shop will NOT count for Billboard 200, but those will count toward Hanteo and GaOn charts. If you are a non-US-based I-ARMY, please go ahead and purchase from the GLOBAL STORE to help the boys win awards in their home country if you have the funds.

Also note that WeVerse digital albums are basically QR codes that you get access to the day an album drops. You scan the code and you can play the songs in WeVerse only. None of those plays in the WeVerse app count for our charts so I highly recommend you prioritize Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and Amazon for streaming.

For more information US ARMY can use about WeVerse items for sale, including FACE presale releases, I recommend following this account:

Please go ahead and share this so the word gets out. If you know of better information, please let me know so I can keep these tutorials evergreen, and thank you!

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: gift cards for multiple iTunes

Today I set up 4 extra iTunes accounts and then I redeemed gift cards from JIMIN FUNDS to make more purchases of Set Me Free Pt. 2.

I will break down the experience for you so you might feel more comfortable doing this too, or if you know of someone who really wants to help but is pinching pennies.

But first--let me start by saying: there is a really good post over here about why it's important to avoid working with solos and antis. I do not want any drama on my blog and I never wish to cause harm to any BTS member. So I DMed Jimin Funds and straight up asked them if they were solos and/or didn't love all the members of BTS... and they flat-out said "No! It's Jimin OF BTS 100% of the time!!"

So after interacting with them a lot today, I believe they are a Jimin-biased account on Twitter but real ARMY in their personal lives, just like me. However, it seems they will take donations from anyone--including shippers, solos, OT7s, multis, who and whatever--and they will distribute to anyone buying for Jimin--including shippers, solos, OT7s, multis, who and whatever. If you wanna help Jimin, they will empower you to do so and not put you through a lot of questions to "vet" you about it. They are acting like a safe middle man.

But Jimin Funds themselves are NOT SOLOS and are actually very nice. It was 3am where they live and they were diligently still up and getting funds into the hands of ARMY like me, answering questions, making connections and suggestions. I have followed their twitter for months and they have never shaded any member and they work hard for Jimin as far as I can see, so I have no qualms working with them, but you do you. You can search for OT7 funding accounts on Twitter and use them by all means!! Please do not bring drama to my blog. I will force you to ride the drama llama if you do.

Anyway, Jimin Funds have bought hundreds of gift cards so folks can afford to buy Jimin's single and title track. Right now they are prioritizing digital sales for US and PR ARMYs but reach out to them with questions for other options.

I will walk you through how it's done, in case you wanted to do it but weren't feeling comfy and so are still on the fence.

First up, I have an iTunes account under my real name with my real life credit card and that's what I use for my main music buying, just in my real every day life outside of being ARMY. I also have 5 other fandom gmails I made, which I'm constantly cycling through to vote, stream, engage on social media, and make purchases. So today I logged out of my main iTunes and I set up accounts there with my other emails. I could only set up 4 other accounts, because iTunes limits you to 5 emails per credit card.

I input the same birthday, same address, same security questions, same credit card. Used different handle names based on the gmail address so I can keep it all straight in my mind. These 5 accounts are tied to me, one user, BUT IF I USE A GIFT CARD TO BUY, the 5 accounts' purchases count separately for the charts.

So I DMed Jimin Funds and they individually released $2 iTunes electronic fund codes to me via DM and I purchased Set Me Free four more times, and sent them screenshots and my thanks.

They did not ask me for my name, address, credit card info--nothing. I just told them the email I'd be using and as a courtesy gave them a screenshot of my iTunes account with that purchase showing them that I spent their funds as they'd intended. I feel safe that I will not be data mined just because they know those shell email addresses.

They asked me to please use the remaining funds on each gift card to purchase Like Crazy when it drops, which I will definitely be doing.

All told, I will have bought Jimin's physical album 6 times and his digital album 5 times on iTunes and 3 times elsewhere, plus I will stream nonstop on 3 devices using 6 free trial premium accounts for 24 straight hours. I'm not sure what else I can realistically do but I'm all ears if you have suggestions.

Please reply to this post with links if you know of accounts funding the entire digital album on March 24th.

I have no idea how much it will end up costing on iTunes, but the average price of an EP is around $10-$12. That can add up for folks, I know, but sales are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT especially considering the names Jimin is trying to chart against, without radio play.

And yes, I will say that streaming is important too, of course it is, but you have to stream something 150 times for it to count as one sale. If we can make use of up to 5 iTunes accounts and spend down all the donated funds ARMY has collected, that will help Jimin chart higher, faster.

The only thing required of you is the time and effort it takes to set up extra iTunes accounts, redeem a gift card code, and click to purchase two songs. It's way less work than streaming for 24 hours straight (though I'll be doing that too, because what is love if not sleep deprivation?)

Love, Roo

PS Our streaming and voting numbers always dip a lot on the weekend. Please, please set reminders and be diligent--but also be sure to build in time for rest and real-life stuff. This is a marathon and next Friday at 12:01am we are gonna have to go hard like never before to lift our boy up!

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS TUTORIALS MASTERLIST

I made a few guides for fellow Baby Army and Dope Old Army who are new to streaming, buying, voting, and promoting Bangtan. This list is organic and will be updated as new info comes to light. Please share and bookmark if you find it useful, and thank you for working hard for our boys!

Resources for Jimin Fans

Billboard Charts

Streaming vs. Buying

Concert Tickets Part 1

Concert Tickets Part 2

Pandora

Spotify

Premium Spotify Accounts

YouTube

Premium YouTube Accounts

YouTube Queue Option

Apple Music

iTunes multiple accounts using gift cards

Stationhead & Renaissance

WeVerse Shop

Shazam

Idol Plus

MuBeat

Voting on MuBeat

Choeaedol

MNet Plus

FanPlus

Idol Champ

FreeVote

Star Planet

Discord

Real-Time Translators

Reporting to BigHit

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Stationhead & Renaissance

Stationhead is an app that connects to your Apple Music or Spotify account and allows you to stream music in a community so that every person’s streams count toward your artists’ chart. Supposedly this app can rival radio (it’s early days; we will see).

Apple Music and Spotify both work on Stationhead's web player. 

If a host is playing their songs from Apple Music, and you only subscribe to Spotify, the matching track from Spotify will play through your streaming account. In the same way, a host using Spotify to play music will have songs matched for Apple Music listeners. So it's a great cross-platform tool.

It can be kind of fun to know you’re streaming with hundreds if not thousands of other ARMYs, especially when you are targeting milestones for certain songs and you don't want to think too deeply about how to build a playlist... but it’s not necessary if you want to just stream on your own accounts.

You need to listen to at least 30 seconds of a song on Stationhead for it to count toward charts.

Here’s a short tutorial about how to set up a Stationhead account, but in my case, I will search for BTS and Jimin on Station head instead of Stray Kids (sorry, Stray Kids—I think you’re cool but I’m a loyal hoe.)

After you download the app and set up your profile, I recommend you search for the following communities on Stationhead and join them:

JIMINCHARTSPH

JIMINGLOBAL

JIMINRECORD13

When a live streaming party is about to start, you’ll get a little notification on your phone and you can decide to join. Then you listen to streams. To maximize your time in the first 24 hours of a release, maybe have Apple Music play on one laptop, YouTube play on a tablet, and Stationhead or Renaissance app going on your phone (tethered to your Spotify). It’s free and it doesn’t spam you, it just takes a few moments to set up accounts on these apps.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a review from a music professional that gets into the details:

Similar to Stationhead, Renaissance is an app that connects to your Spotify account. If you follow streaming accounts on twitter, they will sometimes throw streaming parties on Renaissance and it can be fun to join in and gather collective streams to achieve certain goals.

You download Renaissance from the app store, sign in (I use my gmail account and connect to my premium Spotify). Once logged in, you can search for Jimin, and there you’ll see various streaming parties going on. You click to join, it’ll open your Spotify account, and you can play that playlist along with hundreds and sometimes thousands of others.

It's simply a great way to find playlists and help meet benchmarks with the community, but don't feel pressure. It's just nice if you're engaging in streaming battles on Twitter; gets everyone psyched up.

Some people prefer Renaissance because you can be in control of your playlist (when to stop and start, the ability to count your streams), whereas Stationhead is more like radio, where the host is a DJ and they are in charge. Really it just all comes down to what you prefer and if you're part of communities that enjoy group streaming.

After our artists land on the charts, it's important to keep streaming so their songs have longevity and aren't just flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonders. Using streaming apps is a great way to let your accounts count for streams, without having to curate and manage playlists all day long. (But remember, 20 streams of a song, then login to a different Spotify account for it it count.)

Stream on, stream on, stream until your streams come true!

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[roo-bastmoon]

Time to vote on MuBeat!

Attention, puppykitties. Global Pre Voting for Show!Music Core has just started and now is the time to cast your initial votes for Jimin’s Set Me Free Pt.2!!

DO NOT USE ALL YOUR VOTES. Cast ONLY 15 votes. (I am telling you to use 15 votes for a total of 45 beats, do NOT click to vote 15 times and spend down 135 beats.)

Open the app and go to this screen:

I have a tutorial here if you're not familiar with the app.

It's free, it won't track or spam you, all you have to do is watch videos (and take quizzes if you like that) to gather beats, then spend your beats voting for Jimin.

Are you short on beats? No worries. Take some quizzes to earn extra heart beats. Follow Mubeat Quiz Answers on twitter and watch their daily videos to get the answers.

Once you've logged in and earned heart beats, you'll want to vote for Set Me Free Pt. 2 every day now:

Follow VoteForPJM on twitter for guides and reminders:

https://twitter.com/voteforpjm

Thank you!

Love, Roo

[roo-bastmoon]

Premium Spotify Snafu

If you were like me and planning on making several premium Spotify accounts today but you have ever had a free trial before, you cannot get any more free trials on Spotify with the same email, address, OR credit card.

You can try to start from scratch with a new credit card, email address, and billing address, as if you were a new human being, over and over... or you can bite the bullet and choose this great a work-around, but it involves a discounted payment plan:

So for me, I signed up for a free trial for VIBE when it dropped. Which means my address and my credit card are blocked from any more free trials. I went to login under my different fandom emails, but Spotify understood they were linked to the same info and would not let me get premium no matter what. I'm at work today and I do not have time to go out and fiddle with gift cards or use friends' and family members' addresses to create a bunch of identities.

So what to do?

I signed up for a Premium Family Plan.

This allows me to pay $16 total each month with my main credit card to own 6 individual, independent Spotify premium accounts--and all 6 of these profiles individually count separately for Billboard streaming, provided I stream properly.

That's less than $3 for premium accounts with streams that count three times as high as free streams. Worth it, for me, because I know I can cancel this plan in any given month. Since I am not locked in for a year, I likely will cancel after Suga's tour unless another member needs me to be at peak.

I genuinely like this family plan option, because it means I can quickly and easily shuffle through my premium accounts so I can hit those 20 streams and then move on to the next account, for maximum charting.

The only thing is that if you upgrade your free trial today to a Family Plan, Spotify will give you a link to invite other members of your "household." You then need to email yourself that link to 5 other fandom emails.

You gotta log into each email, follow the link you just emailed yourself, and sign in to your different corresponding Spotify accounts, save your password, and set yourself up. As you accept your emailed invitation, it will ask you for the EXACT ADDRESS from your main owner account, so write that down before you dig into your various inboxes.

As you log in to all 6 of your Family Plan accounts and start setting things up, be sure to follow BTS, each of the members (especially Jimin today), and I highly recommend you also follow JRJ-OT7 for the best chartable playlists for BTS that I've ever seen.

Let her do the hard work for you, making playlists using exact calculations for filler songs, timing, and charting impact. Go ahead and like some of her playlists so you have something in your library before FACE drops and be on the lookout for her FACE-specific stuff when it drops.

If you have questions feel free to ask in the comments--I'm working today and may not be able to get to you as quickly as another fan can.

PLEASE SHARE THIS SO MORE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEY NEED TO TAKE TIME TODAY TO SET UP PREMIUM ACCOUNTS CAREFULLY.

If you have a better alternative or more info for folks who cannot afford a subscription, please PLEASE share your knowledge and thank you!

Love, Roo