What are digitals?

Digitals are points accumulated for charting on Gaon. Depending on how long a song has been charting and on which streaming platform the points will be higher or lower. These points are most typically used for securing music show nominations and wins.

Korean platforms
and charts

There’s several korean music streaming platforms that contribute to the Gaon chart. The most common are Melon, Genie, flo, Bugs, Naver Vibe and Soribada. On Gaon’s FAQ page you can see that the points for Gaon will be accumulated without any advantage of charting on certain platforms:
Q: Is there a ratio that is reflected for each music site?

A: There is no ratio that is reflected for each music site.

The weights reflected by service products are different.
Received 1 individual download from Melon and 1 individual from Bugs are reflected the same.
Listening once in the Unlimited Listening product in Genie and 1 listening on the Unlimited Listening in Flo product will be
reflected the same.
Source

International platforms and charts

International platforms consist of Spotify, Apple Music and Itunes. As of right now, international platforms are not used to acquire digital points. Apple Music and Spotify have both been gaining popularity in Korea as of late, and with the rise of Kpop internationally, we hope that these platforms may be included in the future. That’s not to say that they don’t have their uses though, charting #1 in multiple countries on Itunes and charting on daily or weekly popular charts in Spotify and Apple Music is great publicity and can be used for Billboard as well. Spotify also has their own year end awards and generally performing well on all platforms internationally will result in more exposure for and interest in Ateez.

Music Shows

There’s a total of 6 music shows in Korea where idols can get nominated and win first place with their songs.

See criterias

Why Genie?

As of now, Genie is the easiest platform for international fans to help with charting. Accounts are cheaper than Melon accounts and it’s easier to chart on genie than on other platforms (for example Melon, flo, etc. since those only have a 24h chart and Melon has a huge amount of users). Also Genie is the only platform besides Melon and flo where charting data is relevant for all 6 weekly music shows. For more information on which music shows use which platform’s chart for digitals, please refer to the guide above or KshowAnalysis!

Even though we can’t create our own accounts anymore since they do need a korean phone number for verification since early 2021, permanent verified accounts are affordable and passes cost the same as on other platforms. 

On top of that we can still use accounts that were created before 2021! Even if they’re not verified, those can still be used for streaming, just not for downloading.

Genie Charts

The Genie chart consists of three charts:
Real time chart
(hourly)
Songs that are charting in any given hour. It updates hourly (except between 1:00-6:59AM KST as the chart is “frozen” then). Streams, Unique listeners and Downloads all affect the real time chart and chart position is determined relative to other songs on the chart (how many streams, ULs and downloads they are receiving compared to our song for example)
Daily chart
The daily chart is updated once a day at 12pm KST. It shows the songs that charted consistently well the previous day.
Weekly chart
The weekly chart is updated once a week on mondays at 12pm KST. It shows the songs that charted consistently well the previous week.
The daily and weekly charts are what is important for digital points for music shows! Music shows have several different criterias, and all of them do use genie charts for their point aggregation.

Earning digital
points
on Genie

Whilst the real time chart shows current charting songs, this doesn’t necessarily mean that those are also counted for the daily and weekly chart (as seen with free links).

For a song to enter the daily chart, it needs to be in the genie top100 real time chart all throughout the day.  The “safe” goal here is to remain in the top 100 songs on the real time chart for 24 hours in order to appear on the daily chart (there have been some exceptions to this (ie less than 24 hours charting etc) and considering Genie does not have an “official” criteria posted for making the daily chart, this is just our safe suggestion to assure entry).

For a song to enter the weekly chart, it needs to be in the genie top200 daily chart all throughout the week. Again, the “safe” goal here is to chart in the Daily top 200 chart at least 5 days in order to enter the Weekly chart (and again there is no “official” rule on this and we have seen some exceptions, but this is the safe bet/goal).

The Real Time chart does not give digital points. We must chart real time in order to enter the daily, but simply charting well in Real Time but not charting consistently will not give us entry to the daily or weekly charts and will not give us digital points.Again, only the daily and weekly chart will contribute to digital points for music shows!

Accounts

Unverified Accounts

Unverified accounts can no longer be created. Though, if you still have accounts from pre 2021 comebacks (i.e. INCEPTION era) those can still be charged with passes and used for streaming! These accounts can’t do downloads, for that a verification is required. There are some sellers who will verify existing accounts but if you really want a verified account, buying a new one might be recommended, since it’s usually a bit less expensive.

Verified Accounts

Verified accounts are required for downloading and the only genie accounts you can get if you do not already have one from previous CB eras. These accounts can be used for streaming and downloading. They can be charged with streaming passes as well as genie cash to download songs!

KKT New Account Restrictions

Since the end of May 2021, previously bought and verified accounts by fan bases which have been distributed or rented or accounts you bought yourself might get a login information, that your country has not been permitted for that kkt account to login.

In some cases this can be fixed using a VPN and trying different countries to remove the country restrictions.

Fanbases will be working on getting accounts unlocked, and purchase verified accounts that are no longer country restricted. Kakao has been adapting to certain situations everyday and there might be instances that Kakao will have more changes in the future.

Passes

Limited passes

This pass is - as the name says - limited. This means, with this pass you can stream different songs, but only up to a total of the passes streams. i.e. You get the 50x passes one and stream ZERO: Fever Pt 2 (7 Songs) with it. You would be able to play the album 7 times and one additional song and the pass will be used up (since 7x7 is 49 +1 = 50). 

For more streaming you would have to get an additional pass otherwise you will be back to 1 minute previews which do not count towards streaming numbers or charting. Therefore, if you do not own a spare device to use an unlimited pass or if you're short on time but still want to help, this pass could be for you. It's also cheaper than an unlimited one.

Unlimited passes

You can compare this pass the best with a spotify premium subscription or AppleMusic subscription. It basically means you can stream as much as you want for the validity of the pass (which is 30 days). In the best case you even have a spare device that can run the playlist 24/7 during streaming periods! Only thing to remember: If the same song is played 200 times, you have to enter a captcha to verify that you are a human being streaming the songs! Otherwise it will log you out and you need to relogin to get back to streaming. You can use playlists handed out by fanbases or create your own.

Smart listening pass: Some Twitter sellers offer these. This unlimited pass is exclusively for mobile streaming! It works the same way a regular unlimited pass does but you can't use it to stream on the web player (you will get a 1min preview version there instead). If you are unsure which pass the seller offers (mobile only or mobile & PC) please ask them to clarify!
Free links are sharable passes that people who purchased those can share on social media to enable more people to listen to the song! Whilst those help charting in the hourly chart, this does not aggregate for the daily or weekly chart as the streams on the song officially do NOT increase. The person who shares a stream with - for example - 300 streams, will get 1 (ONE) stream counted for the pass. No matter how many different accounts or times it has been used.
This has been proven by multiple researches. Therefore, those shouldn’t be used anymore as it’s only a temporary ranking in the chart but does not count towards digital points.

Purchasing

We highly recommend and encourage each Atiny to save up and think of buying an account/streaming pass as a necessary part of their comeback budget. The cost is anywhere between $10 -$15 USD and considering Ateez has a comeback 2-3x per year, every Atiny should try their absolute best to save up $30-$45 USD/year for streaming. Breaking it into smaller, more manageable amounts over several months in preparation is much less financially burdensome than trying to come up with the money all at once, so we encourage Atiny to start saving now.

There are several merchants selling passes online. There’s also a way to purchase your pass directly from Genie for iOS users.

Recommended
merchants on Twitter

How to buy a
pass on iOS
For you to be able to do so, you will need to have a korean AppleID set up with a payment method. If you’re not sure how to do that please see the iOS part in How to download Genie. Once downloaded, open genie and click on the top right button next to your profile picture:
We’d recommend buying the regular unlimited listening pass. The data saver pass is meant for areas where you do not have a WIFI connection and don’t want to use up your data volume. Whilst you can save songs from your playlist and listen to them offline, it is not clarified by genie if those streams would also count towards charting. This also registers your phone with your genie account.
What about
Android/PC?
You can only purchase passes through IOS.

If you are using ANDROID / PC, there are NO options for you to purchase it directly on the app.

In order to get a pass:
1.) You can reach out to an IOS user to log in to your account and purchase a pass.
2.) Purchase passes through Twitter Shops.
3.) Buy passes through Atiny Network’s KOFI Shop.
Discords
/ Streaming teams
We strongly encourage everyone to join fanbase Discords for an easier time coordinating things like streaming and downloading. Information is sometimes missed on the timeline and Discord is a tool that allows better communication and organization from all parties involved. Plus, streaming is much more fun when you’re doing it with others and having a support group that can help you along the way will reduce the stress that tends to come with streaming. We can also assist with things like purchasing passes and accounts in Discord. We realize that $10 or $15 or $30 USD is an incredibly large sum in some parts of the world and we are here to help support you, so we recommend joining discords and streaming teams if you will need assistance with funds, help using Genie or overall just want to join the team atmosphere!
Atiny Guild Discord application:

Donating

Success with digitals for comeback relies heavily on Atiny donations. We use donations to purchase passes, accounts and downloads for those who do not have the means to purchase for themselves and coordinate streaming efforts among those people. The amount of donations needed is directly correlated to how many Atiny are willing to and do buy their own accounts/passes and stream. We’d like to aim for at least 8k total Atiny streaming this comeback with unlimited passes. AtinyNetwork is actively posting donation pools and transparency reports, as well as other fanbases that are raising funds. Donations are important as it covers those who cannot afford to purchase streaming passes, subscription, and other voting necessities that may require a certain level of funding.

Genie How to
for all types of devices

Recommended
streaming practices

These recommendations should be based on your personal abilities and plans to stream, there’s no universal best option for everyone, when we take money, time and available devices into consideration. 

Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of both first

Limited Passes

Pros
• Cheaper.
Potential to use multiple accounts and switch between them (this needs to be discussed though, aim for more unlimited passes over this vs more unique listeners but needs way more attention).
Cons
• Limited amount.
• More interaction required.
• 1000x streams is more expensive than unlimited pass.
• Therefore can't loop playlists for a longer period of time.
• Needs to pay attention to the number of streams left.

Unlimited Passes

Pros
• Valid for 30 days.
• Can keep playlists on loop (even whilst sleeping).
• Easiest way to stream.
• More hourly streams when used with playlist (4x title song is the usual).
Cons
• A bit more expensive.
• Switching between accounts on one device will interruptthe current playlist so for multiple accounts,multiple devices are required.

!

the 200 songs captcha will come up for both passes! it depends on the number of streams not the pass.

How to download Genie

genie web: genie.co.kr - no need to download as the web player works very well! 

genie android: genie apk (notice, new apk will be available from time to time! But as long as there has been no announcement about bigger changes for the android app an update isn’t essential for streaming)Note: in some cases you have to activate allowing .apk files to be opened once downloaded in your device’s security settings. Usually your device will tell you and redirect you to the corresponding menu.

genie iOS: A good way is to first create a new AppleID with country/region set to South Korea. You will need to enter a korean address as a billing address. You can look some up here for example. Now add a payment method to that new AppleID! Once that’s done go the the AppStore signed in with your new account and look up genie. You should be able to find and download it!

How to log in/out of Genie

Login web browser
To log in to your web browser, once on genie.co.kr select the 로그인/회원가입 (login/register) in the upper right corner above the recommended music. A small square menu should pop up and you will be able to login by selecting the SNS service your genie account was created with.
Login mobile
To log in on your mobile device, click on the 로그인 (log in) in the upper right corner and select the SNS service your genie account was created with.
Logout web browser
To log out in your web browser, click on the arrow next to your username. A small square menu should pop up and you will be able to logout by clicking on the bottom right 로그아웃 (log out).
Logout mobile
To log out of your genie account on your mobile device, minimize the player so you can see the genie logo on the top left and your profile picture on the top right. Click on your profile picture and choose 로그아웃 (log out) in the upper right corner.

How to set up the proper settings

Web player
For the web player, for streaming these settings should be made:

• Check that the audio quality is set to AAC+
• Like the song!
• Repeat all ON (but be careful to not turn Repeat 1 on!)
• Shuffle OFF
• Do not touch the play bar, otherwise parts of the song will be skipped and possibly not correctly counted towards charting!
• Do not skip or pause the song whilst streaming
App: before streaming for the first time
For streaming with the app, for both iOS and android the following settings should be made.

3.) Streaming audio quality
3-1) Select AAC+ for both options here in the first tab
3-2) On the top right, select the second tab for playlists and mark 현재 재생목록 맨 아래 to “Add songs at the bottom of the current playlist”
Uncheck 재생목록 중복 제외 “Exclude same songs from playlist” so songs can be added to playlists multiple times.

4.) temporarily saving streaming files should be turned OFF
4-1) Uncheck 스트리밍 파일 임시 저장 “temporary save streaming files” so that playing a song multiple times won’t be added to your devices cache  and counts towards streaming properly.

5.) ANDROID ONLY: Turn ON audio focus, that way you can stream on genie and youtube, appmu or spotify etc at the SAME time.
App: whilst streaming
Check that the audio quality is set to AAC+
Like the song!
Repeat all ON (but be careful to not turn Repeat 1 on!)
Shuffle OFF
Do not touch the play bar, otherwise parts of the song will be skipped and possibly not correctly counted towards charting!
Do not skip or pause the song whilst streaming

How to load/activate a pass (limited/unlimited)

When you purchase a streaming pass from a third party seller, you will most likely be given a code to redeem the pass yourself. This can be either done via android app or in browser. iOS users will have to use the browser to enter the voucher.
Browser
1. for passes you simply go to the 상품권 등록 on the top right on genie.co.kr.
2. Immediately a page will show up, where you can directly enter the code you've received.
3. Once entered, hit the dark button on the right ( 등록하기 / register ) for registering.
4. You will get a notification if registering was successful  (상품권 등록이 완료되었습니다).
5. If it says 상품권 등록에 문제가 발생했습니다.(이미 등록된 상품권 번호입니다.) your code is invalid and has already been used.
6. Activate the pass on your profile.
Android
1. Click on your profile picture in the upper right corner.
2. Click  on 상품권등록 (register a gift certificate).
3. Enter your genie coupon code to the blank bar and confirm with 확인.
4. Go back to your settings and check if there’s a code applied.