The Rising Cost of Celebrity Concerts at University Festivals: Is It Worth It?

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Entered 2024.05.07 17:28 Modified 2024.05.07 18:08

300 million a day… University Festival Transformation Celebrity Concert

Every school must invite an S class singer.
As ransom prices rise, incident costs become ‘extravagant’

Photo = Getty Image Bank ‘Three teams of top singers in Korea, recruiting more than three teams of top singers.’

This is a condition for bidding for the Pusan ​​National University festival that will be held at the end of this month. Pusan ​​National University allocated about 300 million won for the project costs of this year’s festival. This amount is equivalent to two thirds of this year’s student activity support budget. This is not a scene unique to Busan National University. Since the success or failure of a festival depends on whether famous people are invited, universities scramble to attract celebrities. Since the cost of recruiting has increased every year, some students complain that the budget should be spent on areas that actually help, such as subsidizing student cafeteria meals.

○ University holidays where celebrity recruitment is a matter of life and death

According to university news on the 7th, Pusan ​​National University will hold the school festival ‘Daedongje’ for three days from the 28th to the 30th of this month. The cost of the project was 303.05 million won, about double last year (150 million won). It is used from the student activity support budget raised through school fees. From the annual student activity support budget (470 million won), 300 million won (63.8%) is spent on the festival. An official from Pusan ​​National University said, “This year, the new president promised to ‘invite famous singers to the festival,’ so it will be held on a larger scale than previous years. Local residents can also participate in the festival, but we have taken steps to ensure that students can enjoy the performance in the front row.” “We do it,” he explained.

Other schools also spend a lot of money on the festival. According to Public Procurement Service Nara Market, Pukyong National University will spend 190 million won on the event held on the 7th and 9th of this month, Kunsan National University will spend 180 million won on two days the 9th and 10th, and Soonchunhyang University will spend 170 million won on the 9th and 11th. The festival budgets of Daegu Catholic University (130 million won), Sunmoon University (110 million won), Seoul National University (110 million won), and Dongseo University (100 million won) also exceeded 100 million won. A university official said, “It usually costs about 30 to 50 million won to recruit a top celebrity team.” When universities evaluate participating agencies in leave management applications, the most important factor they consider is recruiting power. Daejin University assigned 50 points out of 100 points for the agency selection evaluation to ‘evaluate the cast (singer lineup).’ It is an absolute proportion compared to the performance plan (20 points), sponsorship (20 points), and bid price (10 points).

Kunsan National University came up with ‘Psy Recruitment’ as the first plan, assigning 30 points out of 100 evaluation points to ‘Stage and casting instruction for cast members’. Daegu Catholic University introduced the condition that ‘team 1 must be recruited from an S-level group, such as a women’s group.’ Sunmoon University’s bidding conditions included, ‘Oh My Daughter, Kwon Eun-bi level or higher. He also posted a list of celebrities, saying, “Changes are possible at the same level or higher.”

○ Student reactions to increased recruitment fees are mixed

In college towns, each school’s ‘celebrity list’ during the festive season often becomes the biggest talking point. They invite each other to their holidays, and it often becomes a festival that even includes students from other schools. Seung-Hyeon Yoo (age 25), a senior at Pusan ​​National University, said, “I have high expectations to see which celebrities will be invited to this festival.” He explained, “The Daedong Festival is a festival that not only students but also local residents attend, so it is a meaningful event for students at our school.” .

Yonsei University, which became famous for its rich program, also had problems with ticket scalping such as regular concerts. Last year, tickets for Yonsei University’s Akaraka Festival, which hosted celebrities such as Aespa, PSY, Ive, Le Seraphim, Jang Ki-ha, 10cm, and Zico (original price 17,000), were traded for 100,000 to 200,000 won as a scalper. As cases of students not being able to enjoy the festival continue, it has been decided to ban the transfer of tickets starting this year.

Meanwhile, some students are not happy with school holidays that cost hundreds of millions of money a day. A student at a local national university said, “From the point of view of non-holiday students, they want more practical support, such as food costs, rather than holidays.”

Reporter Lee Hye-in hey@hankyung.com

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