HYBE Once Again Comes Under Fire For Profiting Off Fans After The “Unacceptable” Prices For NewJeans’ First Fan Meeting
After debuting under HYBE‘s sublabel ADOR in 2022, NewJeans has seen unprecedented popularity worldwide, and their accomplishments prove it. Yet, HYBE has come under fire after netizens’ negative reactions to the price of an upcoming NewJeans event.
NewJeans may have only debuted less than a year ago, but they have taken over K-Pop with their catchy tunes.
With so much success so quickly, it wasn’t surprising that ADOR recently announced the group’s first-ever fan meeting. On the brightly and appropriately designed poster for “Bunnies Camp,” a range of merchandise that perfectly suited the group’s concept.
Unsurprisingly, fans were nothing but excited. Yet, when many read the notice about the event, they raised concerns about the prices, especially considering that a lot of NewJeans’ fans are young.
While the actual tickets cost ₩99,000 KRW (about $74.40 USD) regardless of where you are sat, the online costs were only half, with one day being ₩59,400 KRW (about $44.70 USD) and a two-day pass (for those with a membership) cost ₩110,000 KRW (about $82.70 USD).
For many fans, the cost of the tickets wasn’t too expensive, but it was the streaming prices that shocked fans. As it will be a fan meeting, not a concert, they couldn’t believe how expensive the different options were, but some weren’t surprised about HYBE’s actions.
- If it’s expensive, it’s all HYBE.
- It’s so expensive. HYBE is seriously evil.
- I’m so annoyed at HYBE… they also charged ₩150,000 KRW (about $113 USD) for my bias online fan meeting for three days.
- F*ck HYBE. Stop raising prices.
- HYBE is seriously evil. Why is the price for an online fan meeting so expensive?
Yet, it’s not the first time HYBE has come under fire for “focusing on money” rather than the fans. Earlier in the month, netizens raised anger after the company proposed new and costly changes to the platform Weverse.
While most services had always been free, the company revealed a new premium subscription. Fans were shocked after previously free services, including instant replay and subtitles, would be part of a costly package.
For many, the announcements from HYBE regarding all their artists from the sub-labels have raised concerns that the company is losing its key ethos about music, especially after revelations about dynamic pricing for concerts.
Hybe confirming that platinum pricing (dynamic pricing) was a deliberate choice (opt-in)
Answer from the CFO
🔗 https://t.co/yAwM0dndGk
Timestamp is in the screenshot pic.twitter.com/d7MstOcbku— 🥢BTS ⟭⟬ Merch⁷⟬⟭🔍⍤⃝🔎 (@BTSMerchUpdates) May 2, 2023
For such a young group, it wouldn’t be surprising if many of their fans wanting to watch the event online were equally as young. While there is a trend for the price of concerts to increase, the small difference between offline and online equates to fans’ anger.
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