With streaming’s rise, there are many ways to release songs and albums nowadays, and the most recent album by K-pop icon G-Dragon spurred controversy because of it.

The BIGBANG member’s eponymous solo EP Kwon Ji Yong debuted on the Billboard 200 within a day of its release last week but was considered ineligible for Korea’s Gaon Chart. The chart’s operator, the Korean Music Content Industry Association (KMCIA), determined that the EP was not a true physical album since GD decided to sell USBs that linked to the songs rather than CDs with the songs on them.

The KMCIA said that G-Dragon’s highly personal five-track EP was not a true physical album because its USB linked to a site where buyers could download the songs rather than actually containing the tracks themselves.

According to Yonhap News, KMCIA’s decision was based on South Korean copyright law that defines an album as a physical object featuring music. If it goes uncontested, the decision will negatively impact G-Dragon’s success on other local music charts. It will also have a negative effect on weekly music programs, including SBS’ Inkigayo and MBC’s Show! Music Core, where the best-selling artists of the week, based on several categories including chart rankings, are awarded prizes.

G-Dragon addressed the debacle on Instagram, with a post titled “What’s the Problem?” “Everything in the world has pros and cons, but the external form of music records has consistently changed from cassette tape to CD and then to download file,” the artist wrote. “Isn’t the most important thing for music a good melody that will linger on the ears, mouths and minds of people for a long time and the lyrics that can touch people and make them laugh and cry?”

“We think that the whole issue is a structural problem, those holding on to the old way of thinking and not being able to accept the changes that are happening right now,” a YG Entertainment rep told Sports Dongha. “Why does music have to be stored only in CDs? This doesn’t make sense. … Devices change, but the most important thing is the melody and the lyrics that can stand the test of time and stay in people’s ears, mouths and minds as something precious and comforting.”

The USB links to a site containing photos, videos and download links for the five tracks of Kwon Ji Yong. It can be reused as a regular USB, providing a useful tool for fans who purchase the album, but remains controversial for pushing the boundaries of what is and what is not an album by KMCIA’s standard. Other sorts of nontraditional albums, such as digital-only releases, are also under scrutiny by the organization.

(The USB’s physical appearance also ignited some concern about quality control regarding the experimental album packaging after the red color of the product smudged, but YG Entertainment said it was intentional. The USB, which says “Kwon Ji Yong, Blood type A, 1988, August 18,” is meant to reflect G-Dragon’s DNA and birth.)

With hard-hitting hip-hop tracks and more reflective, melodic songs, such as the single “Untitled 2014,” Kwon Ji Yong earned G-Dragon his best U.S. sales week ever and landed at No. 192 on the Billboard 200 for the week ending June 8. The album also saw major success in China with more than 1 million albums sold via QQ Music, the country’s biggest music-streaming site, despite a Chinese push against Korean pop culture exports in recent months due to political and military concerns.

Source: Billboard

While G-Dragon’s Kwon Ji Yong made a major debut on the Billboard 200 last week, the album’s physical release has found a bit of a snag on its album charts at home. As Billboard previously reported, the five-track release is currently considered ineligible for South Korea’s domestic Gaon Chart due to its USB flash drive format that links out to song downloads rather than actually containing the music, per chart operator the Korean Music Content Industry Association (KMCIA).

The issue has drawn debate from fans and industry executives, with the BIGBANG leader himself commenting on the issue, writing, “Isn’t the most important thing for music a good melody that will linger on the ears, mouths and minds of people for a long time and the lyrics that can touch people and make them laugh and cry?” The issue goes further as G-Dragon’s rankings will be affected on Korean music-chart programs where top-selling artists all vie for the coveted honor of being named the week’s top release.

Notably, a USB-only release would be considered eligible on the Billboard charts with American sales of G-Dragon’s Kwon Ji Yong album — in all its forms, whether it be the physical USB or digital — eligible to count on the album charts, as long as the sales are reported to Nielsen Music.

KMCIA has defended their decision based on South Korean copyright law that sees an album as a physical object with music. When one puts the flash drive into their device, a folder containing a hyperlink leads the consumer to a Website featuring three pages: one with the individual song downloads, one with photos and the last with videos including music videos and exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of the album photo shoot.

The issue ultimately opens-up a larger debate of what does count as an album today. Does an “album sale” ultimately change when it leads the consumer to a Website to download its individual tracks instead of a physical disc that seamlessly plays all the music? Or is simply the act of buying an artist’s physical music product — regardless of how the songs are presented — what makes it a purchase with impact? And who’s to decide what is and is not impactful? They’re all interesting questions.

While the Gaon chart does not incorporate streaming or individual track sales in its album-sales counts like the Billboard 200, singles rankings do with Kwon Ji Yong‘s lead cut “Untitled, 2014” already giving GD his latest No. 1 on Gaon Digital Chart and proving the record’s music is, in fact, massively popular. But album charts are also considered a major marker of a record’s success for those choosing to support the artist’s full body of work instead of just the single, which helps explain the controversy over the decision. Furthermore, high physical album sales for a K-pop act indicates substantial national popularity with only select acts having album sales worth bragging about when the numbers are revealed. With music so widely and much more easily available via streaming and YouTube, not to mention the competitive music programs also counting listening statistics, are fans even really listening to the music on the physical CDs or does it merely represent an important step and trinket in fandom culture?

It’s possible that G-Dragon will be an unfortunate victim of South Korean chart history and that similarly created USB flash drive albums or other alternative formats will eventually be counted. GD’s record label YG Entertainment called the decision “a structural problem,” saying the charts were “holding on to the old way of thinking and not being able to accept the changes that are happening right now.” Times change quickly with technology and with the Internet very possibly creating an entirely new format or an alternative listening method comes into play, that forces charts teams to rethink their policies once again.

The Billboard 200 is less than three years into its makeover where it began incorporating streams and track sales to determine the most popular albums in America. Comparatively, the digital success of “Untitled, 2014” and the other four album tracks debuting in the Top 20 of the Digital Chart make it clear that Kwon Ji Yong would have been a massive accomplishment on Korea’s albums charts even if the USB was not counted. Still, it’s impossible to say the K-pop icon hasn’t had a huge victory with the album — not only for its global chart performance, but as a creative, soul-exploring opus. Yet, for now, Gaon’s decision stands with this week’s Album Chart seeing no sign of Kwon Ji Yong in the Top 100 as Seventeen’s AI1 rises to take back to No. 1 after spending last week at No. 3.