The Korea Popular Music Performance Industry Association (hereinafter "the Association") on the 24th issued a strongly worded statement criticizing the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) for operating public facilities such as Olympic Park while treating the performance industry not as a collaborative partner but solely as a means of generating revenue.
The Association said it has cooperated with the foundation as a cultural partner for decades and helped build K-culture's global standing. At the center are numerous concert promoters, productions and artists, who it described as the main actors driving the growth of South Korea's popular music performance industry. However, the association criticized the foundation's operations, saying the foundation views the performance industry not as a partner in cultural development but merely as a means of generating revenue.
An Association official said, "The performance industry has paid the foundation large venue rental fees over the years and has brought countless audiences to Olympic Park, directly contributing to the foundation's finances, yet the performance industry was not allowed to participate in any discussions," and added, "We have endured the foundation's unreasonable operations, but we can no longer remain silent about the recent unilateral decisions made without prior consultation."
It went on, "We have issued this statement to firmly hold the foundation accountable for forgetting its duties as a public institution and to correct administration that hinders the development of South Korea's performance industry," and emphasized, "Because the performance industry is directly tied to the public's right to enjoy culture, the foundation should respect the performance industry as a partner in culture rather than an object of revenue and seriously consider its future operating direction."
In response, the Association strongly condemned the foundation's unilateral and opaque administration for seriously undermining the foundations of the performance industry, and demanded immediate and substantive corrective measures.
First. The foundation must officially apologize for its lack of communication and indifference that have ignored the performance industry, and immediately begin stakeholder consultation procedures related to the naming rights for Ticketlink.
First. The foundation must transparently disclose its five-year budget execution plan for the naming-rights revenue of 10 billion won and fully review the clause that forces a 50% allocation of Ticketlink bookings and the clause that imposes a 5% commission.
First. The foundation must reconsider the construction plan for the 88 Lawn Plaza and immediately open channels of communication with the Association and concert promoters.
First. The foundation must immediately establish a permanent consultative body between the Association and concert promoters.
The Association said of these four demands, "The performance industry has cooperated with the foundation as a partner based on trust and patience, but that patience is no longer a virtue," and added, "This statement calls on the foundation to fulfill its duties as a public institution by pursuing responsible administration and transparent operations, and hopes it will be the starting point for cooperation toward the sustainable development of South Korea's performance industry and the healthy growth of K-culture."
Below is the full text of the Association's statement
Olympic Park, a public facility operated with the people's tax money!
Respect the performance industry as a partner in culture, not as a means of generating revenue!
We strongly condemn the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) for thinking of the performance industry only as a source of money and having no interest in discussing or addressing the industry's issues!
The Korea Popular Music Performance Industry Association (hereinafter 'the Association') strongly condemns the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO), which manages Olympic facilities including Olympic Park, for its unilateral and unreasonable behavior.
Over the years, the performance industry has cooperated and grown with the foundation as a cultural partner. Behind that are numerous concert promoters, productions and artists. They helped build what had been a barren field of popular music performance culture and were the main actors in making K-culture's global standing. However, the foundation treats the performance industry that creates new K-culture content not as a collaborative partner but as an object and tool for generating revenue.
Each year the performance industry has paid the foundation large venue rental fees and drawn countless audiences to Olympic Park, contributing to the foundation's finances.
Despite this, the foundation does not recognize the performance industry as a 'participant in discussions.'
The Association and concert promoters have silently endured the foundation's unreasonable operations for a long time, but they can no longer remain silent about the foundation's recent unilateral and unreasonable behavior. The Association therefore intends to firmly hold the foundation accountable for forgetting its duties as a public institution.
Regarding the old handball stadium's name, the foundation in July signed a naming-rights agreement with HN Link (Ticketlink) for a total of 10 billion won to name it 'Ticketlink Live Arena.' However, what the foundation exchanged for that payment was none other than the promoters' and artists' right to choose their ticketing platform, that is, the performance industry's inherent right to select a sales channel.
The foundation sold the industry's basic rights without a single word of discussion.
The HN Link (Ticketlink) contract includes a clause that forcibly allocates 50% of performance tickets to a specific ticketing platform and a clause that charges promoters a 5% ticket commission. These are inherent rights that allow the performance industry to decide, through business judgment, which ticketing platforms to negotiate with. The foundation abused its transactional position to interfere in the industry's management, making an unfair decision that severely infringed on the industry's autonomy and inherent rights.
In this process the foundation proceeded with all procedures by unilaterally notifying parties without any discussion or consultation with the performance industry.
This is a clear insult that treats the entire performance industry as a subcontracted sector of a revenue structure and is an example that plainly shows how the foundation views performance culture.
Moreover, the foundation was only interested in the high price for naming rights and had no long-term development plan for the performance facilities. It could not present any justification for seeking a higher price in advance and repeatedly gave ignorant responses, even after the name changed from 'stadium' to 'arena,' without proposing facility improvement plans befitting an arena.
The foundation's unfair administration did not stop there.
Following the HN Link (Ticketlink) contract, the foundation is tightening its grip on the performance industry again. The 88 Lawn Plaza environmental improvement construction schedule (July 2026–June 2027) was also pushed forward and notified unilaterally without any discussion with the performance industry.
This decision completely ignored the voices that there would be no places to perform in South Korea, the country of K-pop. As a result, major festivals and performances scheduled for 2026 are at risk of being canceled one after another.
While earning revenue in the name of public facilities, the foundation never once considered or paid attention to the rights of the concert promoters, artists and fans who actually use those facilities.
This is a case that proves the foundation is an institution that ignores the value of culture and pursues only revenue.
The Association requested meetings on these serious matters several times.
On July 16 and Aug. 27 the Association raised the issue of the naming-rights contract for 'Ticketlink Live Arena' at foundation meetings, and on Sept. 29 it conveyed the performance industry's damages from the '88 Lawn Plaza environmental improvement construction' at a roundtable hosted by Korea Sports Industry Company (KSPO&CO).
However, thereafter the foundation did not conduct any consultations or solicit opinions from direct stakeholders such as the Association and concert promoters. It just repeated that the contract had already been signed and asked for understanding.
It has postponed a third meeting, saying it will be held "if necessary," and more than two months have passed since the second meeting ended, effectively abandoning the issue.
This behavior is not simple administrative delay but a clear dereliction of duty as a public institution and a disregard for the performance industry.
The Association states that the foundation's unilateral administration and opaque operations can no longer be tolerated and strongly demands the following.
First. The foundation must officially apologize for its lack of communication and indifference that have ignored the performance industry, and immediately begin stakeholder consultation procedures related to the Ticketlink naming rights.
First. The foundation must transparently disclose its five-year budget execution plan for the naming-rights revenue of 10 billion won and fully review the clause that forces a 50% allocation of Ticketlink bookings and the clause that imposes a 5% commission.
First. The foundation must reconsider the construction plan for the 88 Lawn Plaza and immediately open channels of communication with the Association and concert promoters.
First. The foundation must immediately establish a permanent consultative body between the Association and concert promoters.
The Korea Popular Music Performance Industry Association strongly condemns the foundation for treating the performance industry as a channel for generating revenue rather than as a cultural partner.
While the performance industry has cooperated with the foundation as a partner based on trust and patience, that patience is no longer a virtue.
Now the Association and the performance industry will firmly confront the foundation's unfair administration by all possible legal means and procedures to recover their rightful rights. At the same time, they will create a sustainable development model for the performance industry through dialogue and consultation.
The foundation must now provide the public with responsible answers and concrete corrective measures. If it does not, the Association and concert promoters nationwide warn they will fight strongly by all procedures and actions.
We will no longer be silent and we will never back down.<
[Photo] Provided, OSEN DB
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