by The popular music performance industry is full of expectations that this adjustment will revitalize the stagnant performance industry. On the 11th, the Korea Popular Music Performance Industry Association issued a statement saying, “We expect the government’s decision to help promote popular music performances.”
In classical and musical performances, there was no limit on the number of people attending as long as basic quarantine rules were followed. On the other hand, the popular music performance industry had to endure bleeding by repeating postponements and cancellations because the audience was limited to less than 100, and proper guidelines were not prepared. It has also been pointed out that it is incompatible with the performance industry of other genres. According to the Korea Music Label Industry Association, the estimated damage to domestic popular music performances from February last year to May this year amounts to about 184 billion won.
The first offline performances were opened with large-scale concerts and outdoor festivals. Shadowplay, a performance agency, announced on the 14th that the Seoul performance of the ‘Miss Trot 2’ concert, which had been postponed indefinitely due to Corona 19, will resume at the Olympic Hall from the 23rd to the 25th of next month. The performance agency Mint Paper also announced that ‘Beautiful Mint Life 2021’ will be held on the 26th and 27th at the Seoul Olympic Park 88 Lawn Courtyard.
K-pop fans are also welcoming. Mr. Lee also said, “I like performances, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t enjoy them.” “It was a pity that the vividness and realism unique to offline concerts were lost in the online concerts that appeared due to Corona 19.” Mr. Lee said that he would like to participate in offline events as long as on-site quarantine rules are correctly followed.
Moon Mo (31, a public official) also said, “For my parents, I booked a concert ticket for singer Na Hoon-ah in December last year, but the concert was canceled due to the severe COVID-19. I hope I can give it to you.”
The organizers of the performance are preparing everything to catch two rabbits for quarantine and success. Mint Paper, which hosts ‘Beautiful Mint Life 2021’, decided to introduce a rapid antigen kit to the site and operate a seating system with a distance of 40% in the previous year. At the ‘Miss Trot 2’ concert, which is expected to attract a large number of middle-aged and elderly audiences who are vulnerable to infection, thorough quarantine will be carried out following the guidelines recommended by the quarantine authorities, such as spacing between seats, prohibition of shouting, and standard quarantine.
Successful cases are also accumulating abroad. The UK’s most significant music awards ceremony, the ‘Brit Awards,’ performed offline last month in front of 4,000 people without wearing a mask or keeping distance. It was an experimental attempt made possible by the speeding up of local vaccination.
On the other hand, in the US, Teenage Bottle Rocket’s rock group applied a ‘vaccine incentive’ to an offline concert to be held next month. Those vaccinated pay 18 dollars (about 20,000 won), and those who are not vaccinated pay 1,000 dollars (about 1.11 million won).
However, some are concerned about the prevention of COVID-19. Quarantine authorities have enforced basic quarantine rules, such as prohibiting gatherings of more than five people, prohibiting food intake, and restricting activities that could cause saliva, such as shouting and chanting. This is because sporadic group infections occur mainly in places where people gather, such as workplaces, schools, shopping malls, and churches.
Recently, 16 cases were confirmed at a financial institution in Daejeon and 38 at a high school in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. In particular, there is a lot of ‘blink transmission’ where the route of infection is not clear, so more attention is required. Of the 7,935 new confirmed cases reported to the quarantine authorities from the 1st to this day, 2,160 (27.2%) of them have not yet confirmed the route of infection.
“The main audience for outdoor festivals is in their 20s and 30s, but those in their twenties haven’t even started getting vaccinated yet,” said Choi (25, prospective graduate student), who enjoyed performing at outdoor rock festivals before Corona 19. It seems to have been a hasty decision,” he said. Mr. Park (25, office worker) also expressed concern, saying, “Isn’t it too many people to gather in one place?”
Experts advise that the number of people should be adjusted according to space. The view is that for effective infection prevention, the number of people should be limited based on population density versus area.
Eom Joong-sik, professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Hospital, said, “It is necessary to re-adjust the number of people compared to space.” emphasized.
