A collection of music streaming and sales websites announced Monday the reform plans that they hope will prevent chart-rigging as in the recent scandals involving popular k-pop groups, effective Wednesday.



The policy committee for Gaon charts, consisting of officials at Naver Music, Bugs, Melon, Soribada, Mnet, and Genie working to improve how local music charts are run, said that the aforementioned websites will begin to freeze rankings between the hours of 1 a.m. to 7 a.m.





Momoland (MLD Entertainment)





This change is due to the “sajaegi” controversies ailing the Korean music industry. “Sajaegi,” which literally means to “buy and stock,“ refers to a type of chart manipulations by entertainment labels who buy their own artists albums, boosting sales and the artists’ rankings on charts, including Gaon charts.



Buying the records en masse between 1-7 a.m. is considered effective in rigging the charts, as far less people use the websites than in the day, thus allowing artists to emerge at the top spots with a lower number of sales.





The logo of Korea Music Content Association, operator of Gaon charts. (KMCA)