Around the world, K-pop concert prices are skyrocketing

K-POP is now a firm part of the world music scene, driven by ever younger and more numerous groups. Some of them are taking to the road this year, much to the delight of their fans. But would-be concert-goers might be surprised to see how much it costs to see their idols live on stage.

Would you be willing to pay hundreds of euros (through official channels) to attend an Ateez show? That's the question many European fans of the K-pop group have been asking since the eight members announced a series of tour dates on the Old Continent. At first, many thought it was a joke when they saw the prices of some of the seats -- or some kind of ticketing service malfunction.

However, they soon had to face up to the fact that it will cost between €66.40 and €154.40 to see Seonghwa, Hongjoong, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung and Jongho, in March, at the Accor Arena in Paris. Prohibitive prices which are, in the collective Western mindset, more often associated with artists like Beyoncé, Elton John or the Rolling Stones than the rising stars of K-pop.

Still, interest in Korean popular music should not be underestimated. In recent years, K-pop has become a social phenomenon that can be measured in sales, streams and, most importantly, in revenue. The group BTS alone contributes more than $3.6 billion annually to the economy of their homeland, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. And they are no exception.

The girl band Blackpink, for example, exceeded $3.3 million in revenue for each of their two concerts on November 14 and 15, 2022, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. A record for a girl band!

The K-pop craze has brought about a complete paradigm shift in the music industry thanks to fan communities that don't hold back when it comes to supporting their idols.

However, the rising prices of concert tickets have many music lovers worried in the current climate of soaring inflation.

Many fear that they will not be able to afford to see their favorite artists on stage, especially now that they have taken to announcing the opening of ticket sales at very short notice.

$3,000 for a Blackpink ticket

Traditionally, K-pop artists have given their audiences plenty of advance notice of their world tour dates and the availability of tickets for their shows. But this phenomenon has somewhat reversed since the 2010s, under the impetus of South Korean labels wishing to capitalize as quickly as possible on the artists that they manufacture from scratch.

"With so many teams [bands] debuting, idols had to hurry to release albums and promote their activities. If the time between the last album and the new album is prolonged, it will be forgotten from the memories of fans and the public, allowing other teams to rise," K-pop expert, Hee-ah Park, told The Guardian.

As a result of this fast pace, fans have less and less time to anticipate their outlay and budget to buy concert tickets. If some will always buy a ticket, no matter the price, others have no choice but to wait before being able to afford their precious pass.

And that's without counting the "ticket-bots," the automated robots that buy up concert tickets en masse as soon as they are put on sale to allow individuals to resell them later for exorbitant sums. Blackpink's fans in Hong Kong experienced this in January, when Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé gave three concerts in the city-state.

Although they were sold out for months, a few tickets were available on the internet. A 13th-row seat for one of Blackpink's performances was even resold for a record price of HK$25,000 (US$3,200), according to The South China Morning Post. Its initial price was HK$2,999 dollars (US$385).

If this practice is not limited to the K-pop world, it certainly dries up the supply of tickets and leads to fears that the concerts of South Korean idols are becoming more and more inaccessible to the majority of fans.

Fans might not be happy, but most don't want to risk missing out on a performance by Blackpink, Ateez, The Rose, Music Bank or even AB6IX.

"At the end of the day, there will always be people that will still buy tickets, even from touts at inflated prices, because the demand will always be there," one K-pop fan told The Guardian.