Chuu’s Unexpectedly Grim Concert Sales Expose The “Problem” With K-Pop Tours
On June 20th, it was announced that Chuu would embark on a North and South American tour titled Strawberry Rush.
Chuu, who has promoted as a solo artist since her expulsion from LOONA, has seen success despite debuting under a smaller company. Her most recent release, “Strawberry Rush,” has over 5.5 million views, a total some full groups struggle to hit.
However, this success seemingly did not have an effect on her concert ticket sales.
A netizen on X shared several screenshots of the availability of Chuu’s concert tickets on Ticketmaster on different tour dates, showing that several had more tickets remaining than sold.
this is so bad oh my god 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/TQUy49ZwP0
— bri ✩ (@lavundur) July 16, 2024
The remaining tickets are mainly available for their original value rather than being marked up at a platinum premium price.
Rather than a sign of lowered popularity, other reasons have been presented for Chuu’s low sales.
First, Chuu recently toured North America in October 2023, making it her second in less than a year.
Additionally, the other groups and acts created after LOONA’s departure from BlockBerry Creative, like Loosemble, have also toured recently. This has placed stress on LOONA’s fanbase’s pockets as they attempt to see all of the members.
idk what the companies are thinking by having the girls tour one after the other, orbits just can't afford going to the shows especially with these prices https://t.co/7q5A4D998o
— iz (@hiraisrj) July 17, 2024
post loona tour management is 😵💫😵💫😵💫 like their companies know they all share the same fandom, the ticket prices are so high so the venues don't sell out. wouldn't it be smarter to have cheaper tickets but more ppl in attendance? that way even nonfans would be interested in going https://t.co/9A4Or8dpt1
— sunny 🫧 (@jeongrinas) July 17, 2024
This venue is too big and too expensive on top of that all the loona girls are touring so closely to one another so orbits have to choose smh https://t.co/BleJx1ew2L
— chris (@gojomaker) July 17, 2024
This also overlaps with problems being seeing by several other K-Pop acts. Like Chuu, many groups have announced concerts too close to the date of the event, which ultimately affects ticket sales.
For example, KCON USA did not share the line-up for the event until June, just a month before the event is to take place. Another issue is also ticket price — both Chuu and KCON’s ticket prices have been deemed to expensive, also leading to lower sales and adjusted prices.
It would have been really nice if you included this immediately, rather than wait till last minute to help with difficult ticket sales (obviously due to high ticket costs).
And also bring back Kcon NY https://t.co/CbdxJnkiFr
— Bex 🫶🏻🐝 (@tri_via95) July 6, 2024
This has seemingly affected other acts as well, like THE BOYZ, whose concert tickets were called out for being too expensive.
Many feel that concert organizers and companies are out of touch with audiences, leading to instances like this.
These kpop companies think Americans have unlimited money or something 😭😭 https://t.co/MYtKbguEy9
— eren is seeing ARTMS (@vivitendoo) July 17, 2024
another take aside from expensive tickets/poor marketing: companies need to understand that online fansigns were a pandemic thing and don’t go along with touring acts. tone down the vcs and let your fans recover financially https://t.co/Brh8JmXcdb
— 💆🏻♀️ (@mmq_819) July 17, 2024
k-pop companies are so bad at planning tours it's crazy. charge 1/3 of what you been charging and offer low cost benefities like a photocard or something and you could easily fill this venue and you have a succesful tour.https://t.co/8lG6sZm6vf
— ari 🦁 haseul on KOMS (@queencarolpls) July 17, 2024
their companies racking up on so much debt with all these back to back tours, high ticket prices, and low sales. https://t.co/8fqKFHYYk3
— ❤️🔥 (@tzutastic) July 17, 2024