Should K-pop concerts be made free for teenagers to promote Hallyu wave in India?

SEOUL: Ever wondered why A-list K-pop concerts draw an audience of around 20,000-45,000 per show in Bangkok, above 10,000 in Los Angeles, 23,000 across Berlin, Moscow, and Paris as against an abysmal number of less than 2,000 per show in India?

Ticket pricing for the BTS, BlackPink, GOT7, and others begin around $ 150 (Rs. 11,000), and above which the only rich and celebrities including Bollywood actors can afford in India.

But what about die-hard K-pop fans hailing from middle-class families, especially millions of teenagers?

In America where K-pop fans are known to spend extra cash to import CDs and where Korean acts are a touring priority, a number of bands enthralled their fans with free concerts to promote Hallyu wave there in the past.

In 2014, the Open Concert L.A. K-Pop Festival, a free K-pop mega-concert featuring a slew of Korean idols and veterans performed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

They included Boy bands SHINee, 2PM, and INFINITE and girl groups SISTAR and Girl’s Day, as well as Rock-pop outfit CNBLUE and veteran hip-hop act Dynamic duo.

Prior to it in 2012, Girls’ Generation premiered a music video in New York and invited fans with 1,500 school kids to watch the show free-of-cost.

With speculations of BTS planning to come to make India visit soon in 2021 during its first world tour during the post-Corona pandemic outbreak, millions of die-hard fans especially the teenagers and others in their twenties are extremely excited. But what is giving most of these young K-pop fans sleepless nights is the very high cost of concert tickets, which they cannot afford to buy to physically attend the K-pop shows.

The BTS, the Bangtan Boys to begin with can take the lead and offer the opportunity of free tickets to Indian fans, maybe the teenagers only if not all fans as adult ones can afford to buy tickets for having their own source of income.

Related article: BTS coming but Indian Teenaged K-Pop fans Worried About Tickets Cost, Parent’s Permission

Urja, an ARMY and K-pop fan since 2017, says, “If BTS comes to India with the minimum ticket price of Rs. 10,000, then the crowd of their concert will be very less and only the armies who are rich and can afford to go there will attend the concert…..Like when ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber came to India their concert tickets also started from a minimum of Rs. 11,000 and went up to 80,000. Hence, there the crowd was so less, and was mostly attended by Bollywood stars.”

“But when Marshmallow came to India the ticket price was reduced so much!! Usually the ticket prices of his concerts minimum 8000 to 35000 maximum…but when he came to India for the concert the ticket price was dropped to 9000 maximum,” Urja added.

Still, 9,000 is not a price of ticket an average family can afford in India where the average per capita income is around Rs. 11,000 per month.

Another K-pop band popular in India is all-boys EXO.

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“I cannot go to the concerts even if I am an adult because you know my family can eat for a month with that money. Being in a middle-class family and spending that much money on concerts would be seen as ridiculous. My mom will not allow me back into the house,” says another K-pop fan Suriu Chandu.

Related article: BTS Come to India but 3-5 years later when we grow young: Teenager K-pop fans  

In the year 2019, five K-pop artists performed in India including IN2IT, AleXa, VAV, KARD, and Jang Hanbyul in June.

Ironically, KARD turned out to be the biggest show in the country in 2019 with just 4,000 audiences across two cities. On the contrary, BTS’ Love Yourself Tour pulled around 30,000 to 40,000 per concert in Bangkok, G-Dragon’s attracted 20,000 fans there.

The cost to attending the concert is not the price of the ticket alone as the cost of travel, purchase, and marches to add for India being a large country.

Pranali from Kolkata said, “I’m 15 and I really love them (BTS) and want to join the Purple ocean once in my lifetime but If BTS come they will do a concert either in Mumbai or Delhi.. And my parents won’t allow me to go by spending that much of money (Ticket cost + Plane ticket + Purchase + Merches).”

Tanisha Banerjee expresses a similar concern, “And it’s not 10k. It’s easily 20,000 if you take in-flight charges and other expenses, maybe more. 20,000 is the monthly income of many households.”

It’s because of the high ticket cost and conservative nature of the majority of Indian families especially the middle class, the K-pop fans do not get permission from their parents to attend the concerts.

That’s why the majority of teenagers prefer K-pop bands to defer their trip and come to India 4-5 years later when they grow young and start earning for themselves to be able to buy tickets on their own instead of asking their parents for buying tickets.

Printy Marak says, “I also hope that BTS will come after 3 to 4 years because I can’t afford their tickets and where ever they do the concert I can’t go because my parents won’t allow me. Therefore, I request BTS to come to India after 3-4 years because then I will do something and I will afford their ticket price as well my parents allow me to your concert.”