The organizer of the Jamboree Kpop Concert is being accused of forcing performances and avoiding payment.
According to Dispatch, management companies of Kpop artists were pressured to change their schedules and perform at the 2023 World Scout Jamboree “K-pop Super Live” (hereinafter referred to as “Jamboree Kpop Concert”) by organizers and local authorities to change their schedules and perform.
In particular, Company A stated, “We had originally canceled the schedule for August 6th for the Jamboree Kpop concert. Suddenly, the concert was moved to the 11th, so we had to adjust the schedule again for that day. It seems that the Jamboree organizers don’t understand the idols’ schedules.”
Meanwhile, an official from Company B also shared with Dispatch, “Our company put a lot of effort into making an album, and the artists also put all their efforts into it. However, the date and venue (of the Jamboree Kpop Concert) were changed twice, causing our plans to be in chaos.”
Another agency also revealed that Jamboree organizers did not mention payment for their artist’s performance.
“We spent over 10 million won on hair and makeup for the artists, but they didn’t mention anything about the performance fee, making it difficult for us to arrange staff for this schedule”, they said.
At the same time, entertainment agencies had to prepare a large amount of idol merchandise to give to the participants. It is is known that since BTS were unable to perform, HYBE sends nearly 45,000 sets of BTS photocards worth a total of 800 million won as gifts.
Originally organized as a form of “compensation” for 43,000 scouts from around the world, the Jamboree Kpop concert has turned into a “scheduling nightmare” due to organizational issues.
Additionally, when asked about their participation in the event, officials from entertainment agencies simply replied, “Do you have the power to refuse a national event? If you are asked to attend, you have no choice but to respond.” It was also reported that the production team of KBS’ “Music Bank” was in charge of recruiting performances, and it is the idols and their agencies that ultimately suffer.
On the other hand, the August 11th broadcast of “Music Bank” program will be canceled and replaced by the live broadcast of the Jamboree Kpop Concert.
After various changes, the official lineup of this event end up including NewJeans, NCT DREAM, ITZY, IVE, MAMAMOO, THE BOYZ, Shownu X Hyungwon (MONSTA X), fromis_9, ZEROBASEONE (ZB1), Kang Daniel, Kwon Eunbi, Jo Yuri, P1Harmony, KARD, THE NEW SIX (TNX), ATBO, xikers, Libelante, and dance crew HolyBang.
Source: Dispatch
