Yoon In-chon: "We Will Solve the Issues of Musical Ticket Scalping and Illegal Filming"

Musical Industry Stakeholders Meeting

"There is a continuous need to raise public awareness that ticket scalping and illegal filming (milcam) are harmful. We will establish clear measures to ensure things return to normal."

Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated that the government is committed to addressing the issues of ticket scalping and milcam, which are major concerns in the musical industry. Milcam is a slang term referring to the illegal filming or recording of performances.

On the 15th, a meeting with musical industry stakeholders, chaired by Minister Yoo, was held at Kyung Hee University’s Peace Hall. The meeting was an opportunity for Minister Yoo to listen to the current issues and concerns of the musical industry and discuss solutions.

Lee Sung-hoon, CEO of the production company Show Note, mentioned two thorny issues in the musical industry: ticket scalping and milcam.

Lee pointed out, "Tickets are being traded openly in the form of scalping through secondary ticket distribution platforms." The secondary ticket distribution platforms Lee referred to are companies that mediate consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions, such as Ticketbay. Because these are peer-to-peer transactions, ticket prices sometimes skyrocket to unreasonable levels. Lee criticized, "C2C platforms claim they are not at fault because they do not directly participate in transactions but only connect buyers and sellers," adding, "They are exploiting a legal blind spot in minor offense laws related to ticket scalping."

Minister Yoo said, "Ticket scalping has been a persistent issue at singers’ concerts, but I did not realize it was this serious in the musical industry as well," and added, "There needs to be public discussion to warn C2C platforms." He also remarked, "It is truly frustrating that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has to take on ticket scalping crackdowns."

Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is speaking at the on-site meeting for the musical field held on the 15th at Kyung Hee University Peace Hall.
[Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

Regarding milcam, Lee stated that even when illegal activities are detected, it is difficult to conduct effective crackdowns because authorities cannot ask to inspect bags, and he expressed hope that the government would establish guidelines.

During the meeting, opinions were raised about the need to revitalize original musicals. Park Myung-sung, CEO of Shinse Company, said, "Licensed performances need to be staged repeatedly for 3 to 5 years to gain audience trust," and added, "If it takes 3 to 5 years, developing original musicals that can consistently attract audiences is the most realistic way to advance Korean musicals."

Park also mentioned his experience as the general director of last year’s National Sports Festival opening and closing ceremonies, suggesting that alongside the National Sports Festival, regional theater, dance, and traditional performances could be presented in a festival format as part of the nationwide arts festival (Jeon-guk Ye-jeon). He proposed that this would help cultural revitalization. Minister Yoo responded, "That sounds like a good proposal," and said, "Let’s organize it so that an arts festival can be held alongside the National Sports Festival."

There was consensus that the musical market should now be viewed not as pure art but as an industry. Recently, the annual sales of the musical market have exceeded 400 billion won for two consecutive years, accounting for more than 70% of total performance market sales.

Kang Byung-won, CEO of the event planning company Live, said, "There are many difficulties in production because there is no dedicated fund for original musicals," and suggested, "It would be good to establish a Musical Promotion Committee or a dedicated musical fund." Lee Yu-ri, director of the Seoul Arts Troupe, also emphasized, "The musical market is an industry with global competitiveness," and added, "What is needed now is not small-scale support but the creation of a fund to help it develop into a more competitive industry."

In response, Minister Yoo In-chon said, "It is better to approach musicals as an industry rather than as art," and added, "The musical sector should not receive support from the Arts Council Korea but should be under the Korea Creative Content Agency. I will discuss funding for musicals with the Content Agency."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.