This is a busy season for Korean pop management companies. It's the season of college festivals where famous k-pop acts will come visit the universities all across the country to perform anywhere from one to three songs each.
According to a survey conducted via Facebook by Sungkyungwan Unviersity's student association, 112 out of 270 participants voiced that they wanted to see IU perform at their college festival the most.
When it comes to attending these festivals, it really boils down to what acts one can expect to see perform. The student association is pressured by the wishes of their fellow students and the school budget. There are various companies that specialize in hooking up these colleges with "relatively inexpensive" deals with the top k-pop stars. These stars can vary from idol groups, hip hop groups, and even indie bands.
According to reports, out of the top 20 biggest university festivals in Seoul, the act that was most often seen performing was SISTAR. The popular girl group performed at five out of the 20 schools, including Hong-ik University and Gungook University. Also 65% of 13 schools had signed on SISTAR, Davichi, Girls Generation TaeTiSeo, 4minute, and Secret to perform.
Just because these groups are demanded by students doesn't make it a done deal for them to perform. These acts can get incredibly pricey. Each act averages about 10-50 million won.
One way to cut this steep cost by up to a third of the total is to link up with radio stations to hold public broadcasts. That way, the musical acts get some airtime out of the deal too.
A genre continuing to grow in popularity every year is indie acts. Because indie bands tend to be relatively cheaper than mainstream k-pop acts, more and more universities are turning to the "lesser known" groups. Though they may not be as popular, it's also common to call upon indie bands that are made up of the college students. The students admit though, it's not nearly as exciting or enticing for them to watch performances by non-mainstream k-pop groups.
All in all, this is a very lucrative season for K-pop agencies.
Source: KBS World