Big K-pop stars aren’t coming to India and it’s because fans aren’t rich enough

K-pop band IN2IT during their performance in New Delhi on April 18. | Special arragement

At a recent Korean cultural festival in Mumbai, three K-pop bands—BlackSwan, GreatGuys, and Ablue—performed before a sizeable audience to much applause. While they are impressive names, they aren’t the biggest in the K-pop universe. And this wasn’t the first time that Indians were treated to a substandard variety of K-pop music. In the past few months, a slew of Korean bands have performed in India and none of them were big global names such as BTS, Blackpink, and NCT.

India still is no playground for the most popular K-pop stars—unlike China, Japan, the United States, Thailand or even Malaysia and Indonesia. It’s a market for K-pop bands who play second fiddle in the billion-dollar industry. No K-pop group from the ‘big 4’,  considered to be industry stalwarts among entertainment agencies, has come to India yet.

Indian fans might be virtually consuming premier K-pop content, but when it comes to actual concert experiences, they make do with what they’re offered—and a big reason is that they don’t have deep pockets.

In 2023, Hong Kong singer Jackson Wang, who is part of the K-pop group Got7, performed at the Indian edition of the Lollapalooza festival. Despite a superhit performance, India didn’t feature in his Magic Man World Tour 2022-23. His pit stops included Bangkok, Singapore, and Kuala Lampur.

Although established artists such as Wang and EXO member Baekhyun are now drifting away from the big 4 and launching their own companies, their venues sadly remain the same.

Only a few good options

When it comes to K-pop fans, India has the numbers. If Twitter data from 2020-2021 is any indication, the country ranked 10^th in the list of nations with the most number of fans. It’s no surprise that a lot of big names in the industry give online interviews to Indian media outlets during album promotions.

Holding a concert, however, is a different game entirely. An event management that has been bringing K-pop stars into India since the mid-2010s spoke to ThePrint and said that the big 3 companies (before BTS’ agency Hybe joined the league) demanded that at least 30,000 people book their artists, not showing a lot of confidence about getting those numbers.

Today, Indian fans have only a few good experiences to boast about: Concerts by the band Kard, which is probably the biggest name to perform in India yet, and Kim Woojin, a former member of the popular band Stray Kids.

Kang Daniel’s 2022 visit was just a one-song performance before a closed-door audience as part of a Korean media delegation.

At this point, India seems to just be a testing ground for upcoming artists who have yet to make a name for themselves. In 2023, South Korean performer Aoora participated in the reality show Bigg Boss. The 38-year-old, practically unknown in Korea, was invited by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department at Sharda University to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of India-South Korea diplomatic ties in September 2023.

Everyone in showbiz wants to tap into and capitalise on the fan base in India, but it’s insulting to think that we are so obsessed with K-pop that we mindlessly consume all things Korean. If anything, Indians can be the most astute of critics, having virtually devoured the work of the best artists in the industry.

A vicious circle

The K-pop industry is driven by teenagers and young adults across the world. Sadly, in India, most fans lack the money to spend on pricey concert tickets and albums. Even travelling to another state to attend an event can be challenging. The richer ones often take off to venues in Southeast Asia or Dubai, now a new stop for K-pop artists.

On the contrary, Chinese and Japanese fans buy albums en masse and gobble up magazines and merchandise of their favourite K-pop groups. And singers have reciprocated it with fan service, even learning Chinese and Japanese as part of their job. They release versions of their albums in both languages and even hold video game broadcasts with these fans apart from regular concerts.

Big K-pop artists will arrive in India only when the nation arrives as an economic power that can attract global cultural icons. Only then can Indians enjoy the finest form of entertainment.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Humra Laeeq)