Live Nation Busan arena plans crux K-culture

Article posted by Coliseum, May 26^th, 2023

Image: Live Nation

On May 19^th, South Korea’s Busan Metropolitan City and Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment company, announced their partnership to develop a world-class arena and multicultural entertainment complex in Busan, South Korea’s second most populous City after Seoul.

‘Live Nation’ stated that this new state-of-the-art entertainment destination will include a 20,000-capacity arena, an exhibition center, hotels, and an educational facility to foster talent in K-pop and K-culture.

Beverly Hills (US)-based Live Nation Entertainment is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprising the global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts and Live Nation Media and Sponsorship.

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K-pop, short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of the South Korean culture.

The Korean culture is taking the world by storm. Spanning popular culture such as pop music, TV dramas and films, Hallyu (Korean Wave) is expanding its influence in sectors like literature and performing arts.

‘Live Nation’ further stated that Live Nation will manage the venue and share its world-class industry knowledge of venue planning, design and ongoing operations. The local Live Nation Korea team will also provide expertise on content and concert promotion to book talent at the venue.

Said Heong-Joon Park, Busan’s Mayor, “The arena will become a hub of tourism empowered by K-pop, contributing to the local and national economy. The complex will create many opportunities and synergies with other cultural organizations in Busan including the Osiria Sightseeing Complex, the Haeundae Beach and local festivals like the Busan Fireworks Festival and G-Star. We are looking forward to seeing Busan transforming into a global City full of cultural diversity.”

Stated Michael Rapino, Live Nation President-cum-head honcho, “As we continue to expand our global venue business, Busan will be an important touring hub for global superstars who are touring more of the world, as well as K-pop and local artistes. We’re excited to help create more opportunities for artistes and fans to connect, while also contributing to the growing tourism in the City.”

Live Nation’s Venue Nation owns, operates or has equity interests in a global portfolio of more than 250 live entertainment venues, handling daily operations for venues of all sizes, while also managing a development pipeline aimed at supporting growing touring markets around the world. Across Asia-Pacific, the Venue Nation also oversees the Grange Road in Singapore, the 12,000-capacity Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, and the 2,896-capacity Palais Theatre in St Kilda, the 1,741-capacity Festival Hall in West Melbourne, the 820-capacity Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul, the 3,000-capacity Fortitude Music Hall in Fortitude Valley, and the 1,800-capacity Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide – all located in Australia.

The development of this entertainment space is more important than ever, with K-pop rapidly growing a global audience. A study conducted by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI) on K-pop as a global phenomenon found that the economic effect of BTS’ (South Korean boy band) three-day tour in Korea was estimated to range between 619.7 and 1.22 trillion Korean won for each concert.

The Busan City will assist with the approval procedures relevant to the project site and provide administrative support. There are three potential sites that are being investigated for the complex in Busan City’s projects.

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