prices are DEFINITELY the biggest problem... you can't tell me that a kpop group that debuted like yesterday has the same ticket price as some western artist who has over 10 grammys... that literally makes no sense

i feel the same way about lightsticks. i went to a concert without one, and was so absorbed in the performance that i didn’t even really have time to feel fomo about not having one😭

Scarcity marketing and strong parasocial relationships are a viciously effective combination for bleeding fans dry

i wish i could tell my fandom to rally up together against the agencies' greed and unethical practices without being called an anti.. tbh the most heared fans will always be korean fanbases, and when they don't care about anything they will not move a finger, which is really sad

Also ticketmaster fees and the resale are always insane too makes the price higher

Ugh the lightsticks...major gripe with those & the constant need for updates. Then see groups decorate theirs just for content or break em & knowing they have unlimited access & fans pay Alot...feels very 😬

i completely agree with everything you said, especially the ticket pricing. something i'm a bit surprised you didn't mention is the whole vip benefits/paid presale that i've been seeing for so many groups lately. for smaller groups like p1harmony's first US tour, vip benefits used to be included with better seats, but now they've been selling vip packages separately for like an additional $200-500, on top of tickets to attend the show, which can go up to like $500 on their own. some groups like enhypen and txt have vip benefits included with better tickets, but those tickets are like $500-800 and you would most likely have to pay for a presale code in order to even have a chance of getting vip tickets. not to mention vip send-off is a mess on its own (i've seen so many people traveling to every show on enhypen's/txt's tours in order to talk to the members).

This is so real, esp with the additional fees they add when you get tickets. I got tickets to XG’s Chicago stop and there was $40+ in fees 😭

Le me crying in the corner cause any kind of world tour doesn't include my country😭😭........

Oh yeah.. This phenomenon is soooo ridiculous! And confusing! Speaking of confusing: Can you do a video on RIIZE and their weird order of releasing song and and albums? I am trying to understand what song belonged to what album, but they double released? Help? And perhaps make a video on the spam of album releases in so many different versions for the same songs? Especially aespa's armageddon was soooo confusing. They sold albums of which nobody even know of what was what version.

its MAD how many ppl i know from my country that flew to another country for a kpop concert. like totally different wrold from the one i live in. what is this mystical creature known as kpop concerts, i know i will never see that

it would be really hard for fans to get together and demand things because even when it involves the idol's health fans are STILL buying concert tickets! an example is the enhypen fate+ tour, they had finished a tour not even 3 months ago and they were touring again, of course fans were angry because the company did not care that they were overwoking the boys, that this tour should not happen, etc. but next thing you know those same fans bought tickets to see them, it's really sad that fans can't even practice what they preach sometimes another example is with nct dream's vip ticket pricing, everyone was complaining but then again, those same people still bought the vip tickets

I'm in US. Prices for good seats will be marked up so much (it's called Official Platinum price). Individually, what you can do, don't buy those Official Platinum tickets. Also, tickets can be resold; don't buy too highly priced resale tickets.

something more annoying is if someone cant perform, its best if they just reschedule the concert instead of people getting disappointed that the person they came to see wouldnt be there

I went to an IU concert in Berlin, the tickets were only available on sale 2 months before the concert (so late, since IVE had a concert in the same venue at a similar date and their tickets had been on sale long before), I paid 450 euro for two tickets which I did NOT expect to be so expensive, I checked out the price for IVE's concert at the same venue at an approximately same section, the prices were like 30% lower (mind you, IVE is a whole GROUP, IU is just one singer), paid 150 euro for bus tickets to Germany because of course IU was not coming to my country and this was my one chance to see her in Europe, took a 14-hour bus ride cuz plane tickets would have been 300 euro, booked a place to stay close to the arena so that I don't have to bother using transportation from the arena after the concert, waited in line for the merch stand to open so that I can buy the lightstick... it costed 70 euro and I ended up buying a t-shirt for 35 euro because I'm already at the merch stand, was not able to bring a water bottle at the Uber Arena, so I had to buy a water bottle in the venue, the staff poured me the water into a plastic reusable cup and charged me 3 extra euros for the cup WHICH I DID NOT ASK, I SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR A WATER BOTTLE which was supposed to be only 5,50 euros WHICH IS STILL QUITE EXPENSIVE FOR A WATER BOTTLE 😢😢😢 I ended up getting a free gift at the entrance from the staff, a small case with two IU photocards, an IU magnet and two keychains.... the concert was great, she sang her heart out even during the encore, but.... the encore only lasted for about 5 songs. When I watched her old encore videos, I read comments how she would often stay for an additional hour or two to sing more during the encore for the audience, but for us she only sang about 3-3.5 hours in total, which is still a lot, but not as much as I had expected... I don't regret going to the concert, I know that she had come back from a concert in London 2 days before our concert, so she must have been exhausted, but like... we paid for those tickets, and those were the most expensive tickets I have ever bought for a concert, so I kinda hyped the concert up in my head to be like something EXTRA, you know? Anyway, I don't feel scammed for the concert per se.... but I really think that us international fans have reallx gotten the short end of the stick compared to Korean fans, even down to the details such as the IU lightstick not being able to connect to the concert in her lightstick app so that our lightsticks can light up in different patterns like the ones in her Korean concerts. Like, why is that? We both have the same version of the lightstick, why don't our lightsticks get synced up to our seats so that it looks more pretty lit up? Those are just my thoughts, sorry for the long comment

the scam of kpoplux in london was so sad😭 i wanted to see txt so bad and then the company just disappeared?! and they were announcing artists only weeks before the event was meant to go ahead💀 crazy times

Love the themeing of this week's video as personally I feel like I'm one of the only Kpop fans that hasn't personally been to a concert neither has a lightstick or merch. It's definitely intriguing hearing your side of the story regarding the inflation of Kpop ticket prices as someone who has experience in sales and marketing for years. All of this definitely have that common interest of people do it so that they don't regret or have that feeling of missing out for sureee and therefore feed into the system of ✨ capitalism ✨ For me, I honestly feel like I don't necessarily need to attend a concert nor have a lightstick just cuz I know even tho I love and appreciate them, I may not have the time nor resources to bring that vision to light

I really don`t get the first issue. Because I`m currently back into my TwentyOnePilots phase, I`ll take them as an example. I know that they`ll come to my country in almost a year. That gives all fans enough time to buy a ticket or save money for it and prepare stuff like a hotel or how you`ll drive to the concert. I couldn`t do anything of this in a month. I personally need more time because i don`t earn a lot money and sometimes need to save it for the concert. And many fans still go to school or go to work or college but some companies really act like we all are jobless and can go to concerts whenever we want to because we have time. But they forget that going on a concert isn`t just going on the concert. It needs organization. Sometimes I really wonder if some companies even care about the fans.

What I like about the candybong (twice lightstick) is that all 3 versions can still be used at concerts! But in general it gets really annoying for other groups especially since the light sticks will sell out, and if you get one then in like 2 months it’s unusable

I just went to a concert yesterday and couldn't even remember when I bought the ticket. I just can't with kpop concerts because they are on a short notice, somewhere far away and on the most random days. Wanted to see Ive but it was on a monday and also during festival season. I rather spend that money on a festival where I get to see artists. In 2019 I saw Jay Park for 45€. I am also not willing to spend more than 70€ on a concert. I have seen bigger musicians for far less. Light sticks used to be so unique but now they all look the same. Why should I spend money on that. The only light stick I own is the one from Apink and I am not even a fan. To me Kpop is literally just the fast fashion or fast food of the music industry

Thanks for the video! I’m not certain how this applies worldwide for this point but one thing to mention for US concerts by any foreign group: all groups need to pay more for a visa to tour. This is semi-recent but regardless it impacts foreign artists negatively, as they do have to raise prices and as a result may lose audience that would have otherwise attended.

War flashback of K-Pop Flex 😭

recently i attended my faves' concert, onlyoneof, in germany!! it was the best day ever i was so happy to see them singing live and doing amazing performances. and the crazy thing is the ticket was only 35€ like that's crazyyyyyyy

Brilliant video! I flatly refused to see Everglow & StayC in London this year as the tickets were approx £100 each for a concert in a small venue where as I have paid £80 for decent seats to see ITZY, (G)I-dle & Aespa (bigger artists that I like more) play spectacular Arena shows in London. I live in Nottinghamshire so going to London for a concert means I have to factor in train, hotel, tube fare, food etc. If Everglow & StayC tickets were £40-50 I could maybe have justified the expense but it just felt like paying more and getting less to me. Paying more to see a less famous artist, in a smaller venue, playing a shorter set. By contrast BILLLIE are playing London next month and decent tickets are £41-58. And XG are playing Manchester in November. Tickets for that are expensive (£106) BUT it was announced 6 months in advance and because it's closer to me than London I can drive there and back the same night so I don't have to book a hotel or a train. I just have to pay for fuel and parking which isn't much and I have 6 months to budget for it :)

Very interesting! Great work, as always

while i appreciate kq not allowing resale for the towards the light tour because of scalpers, it’s actually really annoying. i wish they had just put a limit on the price or something because you literally can’t sell your ticket. also about the lightsticks… i paid 85 freaking dollars for my lightiny. it’s because the price is hiked up in the us but seriously??? $85? when i’ve heard of plenty of people’s lightinys breaking because they’re not the best quality? be so fr i love ateez but that’s crazy other notes: iu did not struggle to sell tickets in the us haha there were so many people in the queues it was crazy 😭 everglow’s concert merch was actually pretty affordable which was the first i’d seen in a while! i got a t shirt for $30 and it has a really cool design. plus i only had to wait in line for like 5 minutes to get it which was so cool

I am definitely of the mindset of putting your money where your mouth is. These days I mostly support a group or artist by buying physical albums and also just streaming, usually on Spotify or KZfaq. I was lucky enough to see Dreamcatcher a couple years ago with my Mom and the tickets were about $65 for pretty good balcony seats. Fans should resist the urge to shell out their hard earned money for merch or tickets they know are overpriced. Once again, keep it up with these deep dive vids. Been loving your 'Marketing' series of videos, Fran. 💟🥰✌️

While I do agree they make it hard to fans I also think certain groups let the fans know before hand when they will drop the dates for concerts months ahead, to me this is reason enough to know I have to save money in advance for this. So they have their ways to make money which honestly is not just kpop and marketting is using psychology in a bunch of stuff specially online engagement and sales for years. Fans can be organized too and if there is a concert they wanna see just make some saving in advance, order ur lightstick if you want one. To be fair they take advantage of people that are not prepared and I think as a consumer learning to be smart with money and all is a must to survive nowadays. One thing you didn't mention is right now in the USA there is a tax pretty heavy for foreign artists to perform, that will also increase the cost of the concerts and will make harder for smaller groups to tour there. Also ticketmaster feud is not an issue just to kpop, they make hard for concerts overall. Anyway, if you are smart to save for what you want you won't be having issues. Unless you are a multi stan, than is hard to keep with too many groups touring and you better make Sophia's choice.

Yeah I kinda agree for the lightstic ones I only got one but honestly i see thier appeal its prety much the same as getting the album for example i dont justify geting more than 2 or 3 album from one artist (not versions albums diferent ones) as well as they arent functional. I got the lightstic for my own collection same way i collect other items like dolls for example. What i hate with the kpop fandom is the criticism when you bring a diferent lightstic of an Artist to a diferent ones (thats what i do ) guys it doesn't matter if you think the lightstic its a necessity check again . One is more than enough lightstics. Anyway that was my rant ❤

I went to see Purple Kiss, and I spent only 80$CAD for almost front row + I had many interactions with the members during the encore since they went in the crowd! The most expensive ticket of this concert was the 'Everything ticket', which included early access to the venue, soundcheck, a fansign, selfies w the members, a group pic, pics taken with your phone and hi-touch for like 372$CAD, which is the price I paid for a ticket only at the upcoming ATEEZ concert in Toronto and it's not even close to being GA. I don't think they'll find a way to lower the costs of a ticket anytime soon, bc fans will still spend money even though the tickets are expensive af, but if people keep not buying them, they might as well do! On the same topic as merch, I'm pretty sure you did a vid on that but god damn having 84 versions of a same albums bc it includes different photocards is insanity + it def creates this need in fans to own them. And let's not even talk about fancalls/fansigns events, people can buy up to 300 albums to get a 2 min call with their bias... I don't understand that and i'll never do, tho I'm sure it has to do with the parasocial relationships k-pop strongly encourages.

I wish it was that easy I'm gonna put my personal examples Kpop groups rarely tour latinamerica we're seen as an untractive market, low buying power, kpop is still a niche in many countries. When Loona came to Mexico I had to travel all the way from my country, in the lower half of south america, to Mexico to see them. Chuu was already not performing with them and there were fears, later confirmed, that the group would not continue promoting as one. I travelled thousands of kms by air to see them and made sure the venue was sold out. Lo and behold, no orbit can see all 12 together touring now (but they never declared disbandment so there is still hope), but at least the companies learned what we were capable of and have included mexico, and now other cities in latin america, for the tours of the groups that were born out of Loona. I don't think that would have been possible if the Loonatheworld concert in Mexico would have not sell well. I agree on merch prices and lightsticks (but they rarely sell lightsticks at the concert venues here), but sadly we need to appear as an attractive market for the kpop industry if we want them to bring their talent here, there is no other way to show them that than buying the tickets at the price they ask for.

It's So weird for me looking at this, likeI have never the posibility to go to a pressencial kpop concert (I would need to get a Visa and in this moment the process to get one can be 5 years if you are lucky but usually 10 years). But I want a lightstick and I'm getting money just because is a piece of merchandise that I like to get... And also seeing that you can get a lightstick for less than 40 dollars... in this moment to get a lightstick when I live would coast me in the best case 60 dollars. And there's the other thing for MANY of us there's no other option and this is part of the problem, the companies don't need the money of most of the international fandom they can just put more concerts in Asia that also cheaper for them because they don't have to pay tickets for the idols, staff and pay translaters, etc

Honestly Tour announcements at last minute, this happened to me with Bang Yongguk’s recent tour this year…I had to miss out cause I didn’t have time or extra cash to get the tickets. Also the fact the event planners were charging the meeting and greet a separate $100 not included with the ticket you already purchased. And yes, you had to have first purchased a ticker for the concert to event be able to pay for the meet and greet to be valid. The fact the event planners did this again is so frustrating and that they’re milking more cash from fans.

As a US shawol, I’m dying over here. (Also, we have the prettiest lightstick, ngl, I want one soooo bad) If they drop a US date, it’s going to be a bloodbath. Yes, even though they changed the fan meeting venue, there’s still a huge trend of kfans shaming other fans for not spending money or having money to buy every single merch, bbl, and membership there is. So they know they can charge whatever they want and at least some people will still pay it.

tbh i actually do use my lightsticks despite never having been to a concert but i def understand where you're coming from tbh idc about syncing mine up either if i ever do go bc these things are too expensive for me to fork up money for another version when the one i have works fine i can just use lightstick apps on my phone if it's one of those so i can blend in a bit better although knowing me i'd fall for the too pricey merch that i spent way too long waiting for so thank you for the warning in case i ever get to go

I found out about a month or so ago that the group Billlie are doing a concert in July and I spent about £75 on VIP tickets so I can get a picture with them and go to a fan sign they had anither option whete you could meet them and talk to the members but i would be too nervous 😅 I don't think £75 is too bad for a VIP ticket cause I've seen way more expensive tickets for other Kpop groups that didn't include a fansign or photo.

Hello, I’ve been watching ur videos for a while now and I just want to say I love them. I’m a new kpop Stan and wondering if you could put the name of the groups you use in the background of your videos, I’m trying to get more into kpop, It’s okay if you don’t want too I just have been looking into more groups to like❤

One of my biggest gripes is apparel because why is a plain t-shirt with the artist’s photo slapped onto it $40+ ????

we can be grateful if they came too, back then in 2011, we had just 1 kpop concert and it was exceptionnal and they didn't come again lol, for example for music bank in Paris, the 1rst was in 2012 i was there and 2nd time we have to wait 11 years with music bank back to France in 2023 only lol. Back then, they didn't come or come just once lol but now they come more often and it's great but i hope they don't all come same year same month like they did in France in 2023, 2-3 kpop concerts in a month that i have to choose and that's why i missed some kpop artists and chose my favorite.

NCT promoters DEFINITELY drop dates at the last minute. Dream actually gave a heads up months in advance, but 127…2 WEEKS! I had missed 127 5 times because of it and one of those times I didn’t know they were in the States. Anyway, I went to a KPop concert last month and had the works! The ticket was affordable and everything was included so no separate meet and greet fees. I’m making a video on my experience because it was definitely how a lot of concert promotions should be.

In my country lightsticks cost 70-90€. It's ridiculous

I like kpop and I have my favs but I’m not so invested that a spend tons of money on it but then again I’m not that invested in any celebrity/idol, there’s a limit to how far I’m willing to go in support and how much money I spend cause at the end of the day idk these people and I’m just a $ to them no matter how much they say they love you, it’s part of their job to say that, not saying it isn’t genuine but it’s still part of their job, to keep you supporting them and providing them their living and the only language kpop companies speak is money so unless your willing to take action with your dollar they don’t care cause everything else is just noise and free pr so unless fans are willing to collectively band together without their dollar these companies don’t give a damn about nothing you gotta say and most kpop fans are to self absorbed to consider anything more important outside of kpop or the favs to take a stand for anything and it’s kinda sad cause there’s way more important things in life than just kpop /favs

And i hope they add France in their Europe Tour not like Wonho who made Europe Tour in Europe country but not in France? wtf or Billie who do a Europe Tour but not in France lol and i hope they won't do just American tour and Asia Tour...like Purple Kiss who did just American Tour or Viviz who did just American Tour and Asia Tour... Hope they think about Europe too!

the vvvip 1300$/1300€ for the Rose concert were sold out in 2024 haha, i can put a lot of money for my fav, not 1000€ but who knows, i wait for Stray Kids world tour in France and if possible Newjeans world tour, i missed others kpop artists who came in 2023 and 2024 too arg i hope they will come again in France like Xdinary heroes, Oneus, Be'o, ash island, bambam, mark tuan etc i love them i hope they will come again in France i didn't see them

"why are they doing this?"...... Cuz they can... and we should remind them who's really in charge (of the biz end)

So capitalism gonna capitalism? Because that is what this is. Unless a business is a non-profit, every business is going to do whatever they can to make the most money. That's life. The simple solution is not to spend your money. Problem solved. 🤔🤔

I agree with you on everything except lightsticks. They're just nice pieces of merch imo & not THAT expensive (same price as 2 albums usually). They're also really pretty to look at and representative/unique to each group.

Not EDAM

i paid almost $300 for a seat at txt’s concert last year, and that same seat now costs over $300 for their latest tour.. merch prices increased as well + txt has a v2 lightstick 🥲

Companies definitely overcharge, and a certain company probably has a 200% profit goal or something 😂😂 reminds me of the ~$150 deluxe version album which was reduced to ~$60 after backlash from korean fans. I wish international fans had the same power 🥲🥲