Three-Quarters of the Budget Spent on Performances
Lineup Selection Also Determines Festival Success
As the university campuses enter the full-fledged festival season in May after midterm exams, fierce competition is underway among universities to book 'popular singers.' Recently, there have been criticisms that the roles have been reversed, with university festivals turning into playgrounds for girl groups and idols.
On the 11th, Yonhap News reported that most schools in Seoul spend about 150 million to 300 million KRW on festival expenses. The university districts have entered the full-fledged festival season in May.
Seoul National University held its spring festival from the 7th to the 9th. Ewha Womans University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul campus) also held festivals from the 8th to the 10th and the 8th to the 9th, respectively. Sogang University and Soongsil University will hold festivals in mid-May, while Korea University, Yonsei University, Hanyang University, Kyung Hee University, and Chung-Ang University will hold theirs at the end of the month.
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies booked Psy and the idol group Aileit for this year's festival. Kyung Hee University is scheduled to have performances by DAY6, BIBI, Silica Gel, and Lee Seung-yoon, while Dongguk University plans performances by Psy, DAY6, and 10cm.
Every year around this time, posts titled 'Seoul University Festival Lineup' and 'fancam' videos of performing singers become popular on social media. The festivals held in the first semester serve as a midterm evaluation for student councils, and there are complaints that the 'grade' of the festival changes depending on which singer is booked, leading to the invitation of famous singers.
The costs of booking popular singers are covered by school funds, student council fees paid by enrolled students, and external sponsorships from alumni and nearby merchants. Although school budgets have been decreasing annually, the booking fees for celebrities, which reach tens of millions of KRW per group, have been rising every year.
Group IVE is posing at the red carpet event of the '38th Golden Disc Awards with Mandiri' held on January 6th (local time) at the Jakarta International Stadium in Indonesia. [Photo by Golden Disc Awards Secretariat]
According to the financial operation status announced by Hanyang University’s student council in the first half of last year, 'artist booking fees' accounted for 49.75% of the total festival expenses in 2023. Stage setup and operation costs accounted for 25.31%, meaning that three-quarters of the total budget was spent on performances.
K-pop Stars’ Fees Soar
As the proportion of entertainers in festivals grows and K-pop stars’ fees increase, some universities are known to outsource their festivals to external companies. The reason is that it has become difficult for schools or student councils alone to manage festivals that cannot be discussed without involving the entertainment industry.
According to the Public Procurement Service’s Nara Marketplace, Kyung Hee University set bidding conditions for this year’s festival event agency to include 'one top-tier hip-hop singer,' 'one top-tier idol group,' 'one top-tier band singer,' 'one top-tier singer,' and 'one top-tier idol group.'
On the other hand, some universities cancel festivals due to lack of funds. In March, the emergency committee of the student council at Kookmin University announced, "Although discussions continued to promote the spring festival, the event was canceled due to budget cuts and manpower shortages caused by the emergency committee system."
There are also voices saying that university festivals should be for students, not stages for popular singers. A student council official at a university in Seoul told Yonhap News, "Student-run pubs, booths, and students’ own content should be the focus, but it seems the roles have been reversed," adding, "It is unfortunate that the school’s name value and the quality of the festival are judged by the list of booked entertainers."
Meanwhile, on the 7th, chaos ensued at the festival of Incheon National University, a national university, as fans flocked to see famous idol groups. Popular groups IVE and CRAVITY appeared that day, mixing general fans and enrolled students, causing confusion. Some fans raised so-called 'big cameras' high to film the members. Although enrolled students protested that their view of the stage was blocked, no significant measures were reportedly taken.
Following this confusion, students expressed opinions such as, "Did we spend money to invite idols for this?", "Let’s not invite idols at all," "Raising phones blocks the view more than big cameras," "This is almost always the atmosphere when idols appear," and "Still, it would be disappointing without entertainers."
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