BTS 부산 공연의 명암: 화려한 글로벌 차트 장악 뒤에 가려진 운영의 민낯 > K-wave Trends

This performance held in Busan on the 12th was a large-scale event that attracted the attention of fans around the world even before it started. However, although the performance was originally scheduled to start at 7 PM, it did not actually start until 8:15 PM, an hour and 15 minutes later. The numerous spectators gathered at the venue were helplessly stranded in the narrow circulation and inefficient guidance system. In particular, the bottleneck that occurred in the process of distributing souvenirs to fans was a decisive factor that aggravated the confusion at the scene, and the late announcement further amplified the anger at the scene. The inconvenience that fans had to endure was greater than expected, as some audience members were unable to watch the entire performance due to transportation issues and had to turn away midway.

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the agency Hive immediately bowed its head and posted an apology through the official fan platform ‘Weverse’. Hive acknowledged the complex operational inexperience, including confusion in on-site guidance and bottlenecks in the souvenir collection line, and expressed its sincere apology for causing deep disappointment and inconvenience to the audience who visited the concert hall. In the apology, the management indirectly admitted that the preparation process was insufficient, saying, “We did our best to provide a meaningful time, but we were negligent in the operation.” Hive's quick response was a minimal measure to silence criticism, but it is true that the confusion on site was too severe to change the minds of already hurt fans.

In contrast to their inexperience in management, BTS' musical achievements proved that they are still world-class. The new song ‘Come Over’, released to commemorate the 13th anniversary of their debut, swept the top spot on the iTunes ‘Top Song’ chart in 79 countries around the world, including the US, Japan, UK, and France, immediately after its release. In addition, the 5th full-length album ‘Arirang’ also ranked first on the ‘Weekly Top Album Global’ chart of Spotify, the world’s largest music platform, for two consecutive weeks, setting a record of being ranked 9th in total. These numbers can be said to be a good indicator of how strong the global influence of the BTS brand is, despite the disruption of the physical performance site.

Using this incident as a lesson, Hive promised to prepare thorough complementary measures for the second day of the performance, which will be held on the 13th, the 13th anniversary of its debut. Their pledge is to completely re-examine the overall on-site operation, including improving the efficiency of the admission system and improving the gift distribution process, to prevent the same congestion as the first day. This will go beyond simple operational improvements and will be an important test that will determine the reliability of BTS' future world tour. Considering that the way a performance agency treats the audience's precious time directly reflects the quality of the artist, Hive's latest supplementary plan should lead to actual service improvement rather than just lip service.