May’s festival season cancelled… agencies, singers, and groups will lose hundreds of millions of won

[rikayla.livejournal.com]

With the Sewol ferry disaster on April 16, many popular singers are bound to lose hundreds of millions of won as May’s festival season at various Korean universities and enterprises has been cancelled.

In Korea, May is the month of festivals not only for universities and colleges but also for enterprises. Many singers earn revenue from these festivals for performing, but due to the lingering sombreness following the tragedy, no festivals will be held this year. Top singers are looking at losing ₩500million to ₩1 billion in revenues. Some popular singers and groups usually have more than 30 scheduled performances in May. As a result, some small agencies might be affected quite drastically, since they rely much more on May’s profits to sustain themselves.

Despite this foreseeable hardship in May, many singers are busy voluntarily participating in charity and fundraising events for the Sewol ferry’s incident. Although many affiliated members understand that festivals could be delayed, they find it confusing and frustrating that all of them are permanently cancelled this year. What are your thoughts on this?


Source: Koreaboo, Osen

Comments

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Personally I think this is a bit much. I can understand a plethora of fundrasing events in May, but completely cancelling events seems more detrimental than anything. This effects livelihoods and, I would think, the economy. If you don't want criticism for holding an event, then dedicate it to the victims and their families. All the fangifts could be donations for the families. But this? This is illogical to me.

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

your comment basically sums up my thought process on this.

[froggster.livejournal.com]

exactly. I keep scratching my head over how they're dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy. dedicating it to the victims/families would have been a good solution indeed

[1111-am.livejournal.com]

yes to everything

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

yes

[lazmy.livejournal.com]

yes to your whole comment

[sayitisso.livejournal.com]

basically everything i wanted to say

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

So people will lose their livelyhoods. These concerts employ alot of people. This is a shame.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

while why i understand why they are doing that, i don't think that stopping everything and keep remembering the pain will help people heal and move forward. who suffered the pain will never forget it, it will be scared into their hearts and souls forever, they don't need news going on over and over reminding them how to feel.

i think that cancelling this and the variety and music shows for so long is a bad move, hurting people need to heal and heal in different ways, and a good way to forget their pain, even for a short period of time, is to turn on the tv and watch something harmless, light and fun, so for a moment, as short it is, to feel better and forget everything is bad.

i know i can't really speak about it, as much the events scared me, i am not korean or related to the people involved, i don't know their pain or will ever understand how much they suffer, but in my country we have been in a similar situation and honestly, it was the stupid tv programming that helped me to cope with the things that happened.

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

but in my country we have been in a similar situation and honestly, it was the stupid tv programming that helped me to cope with the things that happened.

The same here, when September 11th happen, I got picked up early from school, I was bawling all the way to my house. The first thing I did was turn on the tv and watch some cartoons and listen to music to get my self at a claimer state.

[purpleglaceon]

These are my exact thoughts tbh. This whole thing is starting to be ridiculous.

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

Its hard when you have a society that is basically a collectivist culture so to outsiders its weird that they're doing all of this. But to those who are brought up in this type of environment its just the norm.

I'm sure that not everyone is like that and has moved on since it didn't effect them personally, but I'm sure those people aren't going to comment since it could get a lot of mud thrown at them.

[ultraflyy23.livejournal.com]

There's no way to say it without being insensitive but I honestly think this is too much.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

Man, I look forward to these every year :(
Soooo much goes into these, so many people are employed and it's a great way to distract yourself from stresses from university and life. imo they could be turned into tribute events for the lives lost, rather than throwing away everything...I feel like with the absence of the yearly festivities that everyone is so used to they will have yet another reason for the sorrow and sadness to be weighing down on their minds, further prolonging the healing process.

[luvey.livejournal.com]

not coming at this from the stand point of "ohhh i want my oppas"....
at some point the people have to heal. i understand being solemn and respectful. and mourning those who lost their lives, and sending sympathies for those who lost loved ones. i understand that entertainment is seen as too "happy" and i understand that no one should tell anyone when to stop mourning....
BUT
again i say, at some point people need to heal. one way of healing or coping is entertainment. to celebrate the dead by actually living and not falling into a depression. lawd knows we read so articles on mental health issues that are not addressed in sk as it is.
festivals can be done in a respectful manner, while bringing up the spirits of people and honoring those who left this earth. the music shows could have changed their concept for a while still allowing people in the industry (and i'm not talking just about the idols) to work.
maybe it is a cultural thing. i don't know. but this feels more like the government over compensating for short comings at the start of the whole disaster.

[lovealwaysliana.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember how long things were canceled after September 11th? Not that you should compare but... it does seem like it's been a minute

[feel-my-mind.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Sept 11th that well, but I do remember it was about 2 weeks for Katrina; including the week that essentially everything on the television turned into a charity show (though that might vary depending on where you live, but I was in Atlanta, just starting college, and we all sudden got transfers in from Tulane university.) Clearly though, I do remember many of my freshman orientation events turning into more charity events and it being a bug deal the entire semester. Our homecoming was essentially based on donation. It was about the same for the flooding on the East coast; thought live shows went on.

I'm not trying to compare either, just mentioning what I remember

[fiercediva.livejournal.com]

They cancelled the Latin Grammy awards and several concerts that were to take place the night of 9/11, and there were some issues with artists flying from city to city for tours because of the security crackdown right afterwards, but things went on fairly soon after except for the affected areas where the crashes happened. It was a different mood though, more like "if we stop everything and despair, the terrorists win, so we'll show THEM by continuing to live." Also, it was September and not right before the Summer concert season, so the scope of affected events was not as big.

They should have a big Live Aid type event somewhere that's televised as a tribute, then they could slowly get back to normal. The problem is that, as more details are still being revealed from the tragedy, it's still too fresh to start the healing in earnest.

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

The problem is that, as more details are still being revealed from the tragedy, it's still too fresh to start the healing in earnest.

Mte esp since new footage retrieved from the students' phone keeps getting released, I totally understand why they are still cancelling things.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

yeah and there are still 60 missing people. I don't know how they can moove on when not all the bodies were found.

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

whoa seriously? footage from their phones??

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was when the ship began tilting, idk judging from the curtains in the room, about 30 degrees?? They were still half joking half amused etc saying Mom, Dad I love you idk it's so heartbreaking. And you can hear the voice over telling them to stay put. It was when, I think, had they been told to get out and go to the deck, they could've been saved because the tilt wasn't too steep and walking/getting out was still possible idk :(

[obviousgirl.livejournal.com]

They also banned horror or any action films on basic and premium cable as well as network tv because apparently those things were worse to watch than news coverage of the towers falling, etc over and over again.

[embroideredkiss.livejournal.com]

i think now it's become that no one wants to be the first the first to start normal programming again, or to go ahead with an event, for fear of having the wrath of netizens/popular opinion come down upon them...

like everyone else said, surely it would be better to turn these festivals into fund raising/memorial events...but then I guess no official fund has been set up yet, no plans or word from the government...just the yellow ribbon areas everywhere...

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand, pay respect to the deceased by affecting the livelyhood of others? I know people want to mourn, but this is a bit too much in my opinion.

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

I read that SeSea lost about ~2mil won from cancelling Block B's promos (it's probably not a large sum in the grand scheme of things but the company IS just starting out...) so I can only imagine how much these festival organizers are losing, not to mention the staff losing their income :\

[kyutei.livejournal.com]

Aren't TV programs starting to get back to normal? I think that's some indication that they're moving on. I don't think they're cancelling out of respect (not 100% anyway), they're just scared because they know that the music business is more subject to criticism. I've said before, they can grieve in whatever way and for however long they want to, but this might not be about that.

[lainmyownworld.livejournal.com]

oh poop

[cxxl.livejournal.com]

Hm...
Well it is what it is. I hope they reconsider, but not much can be done.

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

You cn show respect to the victims and the people affect in so many other ways. When things starts to affect the livelyhood of people (and this concerns SO many others than artists and the companies), it's going a bit too far in my opinion.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

but not all festivals were cancelled. some of the lantern festivals still happened and they were places where people could write messages for the victims.

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

the lantern festivals are probably tied in with buddha's birthday which is this week, and since they're a religious event where people can pray and grieve in a country with a fairly large buddhist population, pretty sure they're not going to be cancelled. religious festival =/= music festival

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

you are right. I thought there were concerts in May because of Buddha's birthday actually.
I just thought this article might be a bit exaggerated. like there are people who complain about delay but we know that some artists are gonna do their comeback next week. I just don't like how they make it look like they are loosing money.

[sikania.livejournal.com]

well I understand they are through hard times, but cancelling everything is too much. I've expected delays but not cancellations. As other has commented already, they should provide the benefits to the families and victims, hold charity concerts and things like that... but well it's their way to do thing so I'm not gonna say much about it, just hope that everything can go back to normal again any time soon

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

Okay, look - they still haven't found all the bodies. People are still really pissed off with the government, people are still going to the funeral hall in Ansan to pay their respects to the lives lost and Korea is still in a state of mourning. This isn't the Americas, this isn't Europe, this is Korea and this is the way that Korea does things, especially when the people are really angry that a tragedy of this scale could have been prevented.

I was looking forward to going to my university's festival, and yes it is extreme but I completely understand why they've cancelled it. University festivals, at least, are free for the students. For a university to fork out the kind of money that it takes to put together one of these things at this time, it would receive an unholy amount of criticism from its students and the public. And not only that, if festival season went ahead, there's the chance that people would criticise the planners for being inappropriate in a time of mourning. They can't push it back to June because June is World Cup season, and July/August is rainy season, and they have Autumn festivals in October.

This tragedy has caused a lot of trouble for the entertainment industry, yes. But there's a high school in Ansan that will have about 300 fewer students than it should in its graduating class next year and that's what people are focusing on right now.

Sorry but I'm just really tired of reading comments from people who aren't getting it.

[nekkedness.livejournal.com]

i hope the nugus don't bust and disband, and all the staff hm

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

I do not think it should be cancelled, it's time to start moving fwd. At every event have a donation table and a moment of silence/prayer. Daily life needs to resume.
Other people have to keep on making a living. (I'm not talking solo about idol paychecks either)
Someone needs be brave and step fwd and say we need to start healing and that it IS a continued effort along with honoring those that lost their lives and investigations.
It does not good for a country to be forced stuck in stages of grief.
----
RIP

[strawberry-efeu.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, from the point of view of a person who's living in Korea and working with a fair number of Korean people, I think the ferry disaster has affected a lot of things in Korea (including banks for some reason...I can't get a new bank card because of this for some reason? idk why exactly....) but the average Korean person has moved on with their life. Like, everyone still has to go to work and they still go out to restaurants and cafes and department stores. One of my coworkers wasn't even aware that the prime minister had resigned from his position...

I'm just saying, from my limited point of view, it seems like this is pretty much the only thing that hasn't returned to normal and it seems a bit odd at this point. But you know, maybe the place where I work and my pov in this case is weird, idk.

[sayitisso.livejournal.com]

i feel like if people are supposed to go back to their normal routines anyway (work, school etc) everything else should slowly go back to normal as well. it's unfair, but life doesn't stop for anyone. those who lost someone on the sewol or are in any way affected by the tragedy will surely always be haunted by it, whether you cancel festivities the month after or not. i get that the wounds are still fresh, but they could remain fresh for months, years, a whole lifetime. to me it's silly that they have to practically shut down entire sections of the economy and further hurt themselves as a nation.

idk i just feel like they should get on with the music scene as it was before and just put more effort into fundraising and donating and generally helping everyone move on with their lives.