Ticket scalping inflicts damage on the K-pop scene

"I saw a post from a fan tired of waiting for my comeback, expressing a grudge against me with swear words. I remember laughing, thinking, 'Who cursed me so viciously?' It was funny."

These are the words of Jang Beom-june, the singer of the song 'Cherry Blossom Ending,' which comes to mind every spring when the cherry blossoms start to bloom. On December 25, he shared this message on his YouTube channel. A fan eagerly awaiting his comeback wrote a post with swear words on an online community, sparking a hot topic. The fan expressed, 'Jang Beom-june, sue me. I hope to see your face at the police station. How long am I supposed to wait?'

In response to his fans' enthusiastic requests, Jang announced that he would hold 10 small concerts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from January 1 to February 1. As it was his first concert in over two years, tickets sold out within 10 minutes of the sale, and ticket scalping quickly ensued. Eventually, Jang tentatively canceled his concert plans, stating, “I can't solve the problem of unauthorized ticket reselling, so I've decided to cancel all ticket reservations.”

Jang Beom-june is not alone. Many singers, including IU and Sung Si-kyung, continue to wage war against ticket scalping. IU has introduced a ticket reward system that compensates fans who report illegal ticket reselling, and Sung Si-kyung recently held a year-end concert where only one ticket per person was sold on-site. Trot singer Lim Young-woong's agency stated that his concert was dubbed a 'filial piety concert,' so tickets were sold at high prices on the black market. "As soon as the ticket sales started, black market ticket sellers emerged with announcements that they were selling tickets for millions of won, breaking the hearts of fans and disrupting the order of concerts," the agency said. "We are responding strongly by canceling considered illegal tickets without prior notice." Even fake tickets have surfaced. Organized fake ticket sales were uncovered ahead of the SBS Gayo Daejeon at the end of the year, and police are currently investigating.

The reason why singers, management agencies, and companies involved in shows have to take matters into their own hands is that unauthorized online ticket reselling falls into a legal blind spot. Under the current law, there is no regulation to sanction ticket scalping. The only punishment for offline transactions is a fine of 200,000 won, detention, or a minor fine under Article 3 of the Punishment of Minor Offenses Act.

The revised Public Performance Act will be enforced starting from March this year to address these issues. It states, ' No one shall illegally sell tickets, etc., by using a program that automatically and repeatedly inputs a specified command in an information and communications network; violators shall be punished by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won.' Despite these measures, the music industry highlights its potential ineffectiveness, as the law targets only those using macros for automatic repetition, and “catching them individually is not an easy task.”

In March of last year, tickets for K-pop girl band Blackpink's world tour became controversial in Taiwan, as they were sold for up to 45 times the listed price, equivalent to about 17.34 million won. The issue of overpriced, illegally sold tickets has escalated to the point that the National Assembly passed a bill in May last year, imposing fines of up to 50 times the ticket price. Unauthorized ticket reselling is an illegal activity that exploits fans' love and disrupts the industry's structure. The Korean government must crack down on illegal ticket reselling and implement strict punishments to safeguard the country's reputation as the 'home of K-pop' from being tarnished.