Asia News: J-pop Gains In Korea; The 1975 Respond to Malaysia Lawsuit; Lolla Mumbai 2025

JAPAN

J-pop Makes Gains In Korea

For years now, K-pop acts have been dominating the Japanese concert scene. All the major K-pop agencies focus on Japan as their prime foreign market because of its proximity and that it is the second-biggest music market in the world. And while the history of the two countries has been fraught owing to Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula during the first half of the 20th century, they share a great deal in terms of cultural attitude.

At long last, the relationship seems to be approaching parity. The Korea Times reports that J-pop has suddenly become very big in Korea, “with at least one Japanese artist or group…performing in Korea every week, including solo concerts and festival appearances.” More than 20 major standalone concerts featuring J-pop artists are scheduled for the rest of the year in South Korea.

Much of this activity may actually have to do with a greater appreciation of the K-pop market on the part of J-pop management companies. In the past, J-pop and J-rock acts would play in Korea but infrequently. Because the Japanese music market is so lucrative, they didn’t really have to, but suddenly Korea, like the rest of Asia, has become fertile ground for concerts, with demand for name acts growing exponentially in recent years.

The hottest Japanese act at the moment, Yoasobi, sold out a concert this December at the Incheon Inspire Arena (12,000 capacity) in a matter of minutes, after selling out concerts in Korea last December and this past June. Another big draw, singer-songwriter Fujii Kaze, will perform in December at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, which holds 20,000 people. It is the first time that a J-pop artist has appeared at Korea’s biggest venue.

Even smaller, less known acts, such as the Japanese rock band Official Hige Dandism, is set to perform in front of about 10,000 fans at the Kintex Hall 5 in Goyang. Tickets sold out immediately. In 2016, OHD played for 500 people at a much smaller venue.

The Kintex Hall will also host the Wonder Rivet festival Nov. 8-10, according to the Korea Times, which will feature “more than 20 Japanese artists, including popular girl group AKB48, singer-songwriter Mirei, rock band Saucy Dog, and the hot female song-and-dance ensemble Atarashii Gakko. There are also Korean acts on the roster.

In a sense, however, J-pop’s newly minted popularity in Korea is making matters more complicated for the country’s concert industry. As Japanese artists’ popularity rises, their concerts need to be held in larger places, and there just aren’t enough.

One festival organizer told the newspaper that the lack of proper concert halls and arenas has wreaked havoc on the usual end-of-year concert season, pushing some annual music events into January. Another insider said, “It is true that Seoul lacks big concert venues.

While international artists often prefer larger venues, they have no choice but to perform in smaller available spaces to fit their schedules.”

During the first week of September, the Music Concert Industry Association of Korea, which is made up of 46 entertainment and concert planning agencies, announced that it had launched a petition to address the shortage. The purpose of the petition is to put pressure on the national government and the city of Seoul to “establish temporary concert venues in the metropolitan area.” The association will create an “integrated task force” comprised of public and private officials to “come up with solutions to the venue shortage issue.”

As an example of the short-sightedness of the industry, Korea Herald points to the Jamsil Olympic Stadium, which can hold up to 60,000 people. However, the stadium will not be available for concerts for the next several years, and after that it will be used as the alternative venue to the Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which will undergo expansion work from 2027-31.

Seoul World Cup Stadium, which holds 66,000, is dedicated to soccer, and only a handful of artists have been able to hold concerts there. There are only about a half-dozen venues ranging in size from 3,000 seats to 20,000, but most are also mainly reserved for sporting events, which have priority for booking.

In comparison, the Herald mentions that Japan has five venues of over 30,000 seats and more than 40 venues of more than 10,000.

One circumstance that’s working against the association’s demand is that there isn’t a lot of enthusiasm for building new venues due to uncertainty over future demand as Korea’s birth rate drops. One major concert construction project in Gyeonggi Province was halted in April 2023 and this past July the province terminated its contract with the developer. The project is now considered dead.

Consequently, most promoters say the most feasible solution would be to find existing facilities that can be remodeled as concert venues; or, more likely, renovating existing sports facilities so that they can be used for both athletic events and concerts. At the moment, most sports venues that double as concert venues require a great deal of expensive but temporary preparation to hold concerts with decent sound. What’s really needed, says one promoter, is “multipurpose spaces” like those that are common overseas.

MALAYSIA

The 1975 Responds To Lawsuit

The 1975 has finally responded to the $2.4 million lawsuit that was filed in July against them in a London court by the Malaysian promoter of the 2023 Good Vibes festival, which was canceled by the Malaysian authorities after leader Matty Healy spoke out against the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws from the stage and kissed another member of the band on the mouth during the band’s headlining show on the first night of the festival.

The promoter, Future Sound Asia, claims that the group violated rules stipulated in their agreement to play the festival and are thus liable for the cancellation of the rest of the festival.

According to various media reports, the band now asserts that the rules were “guidelines” that are used when promoters apply on behalf of artists to gain approval to play in the country, and that these guidelines “do not impose any obligation on foreign artists that is capable of being enforced against such foreign artists.” Consequently, The 1975 does not see how the cancellation of the festival was the result of the band’s conduct.

INDIA

Lolla Plots Mumbai 2025

Lollapalooza India is set to return to Mumbai March 8-9 with performances from Green Day, Shawn Mendes, Louis Tomlinson and Glass Animals. The festival launched in 2023 and is produced by Lolla founder Perry Farrell, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, C3 Presents and BookMyShow.

It marked the first time Lollapalooza took place in Asia.

The lineup also includes Zedd, John Summit, Nothing But Thieves, Aurora, Hanumankind, Big Boi and more. s