Festival 5.5 billion won ‘ticket fraud’ controversy… We didn’t even rent the venue, we just sold the tickets.

While the Redemption Music Festival, scheduled for the 27th and 28th of next month, has started selling tickets, it has been found that even the venue has not been agreed upon. Even at a low estimate, the ticket price is around 130,000 won. If the festival is not held due to location issues, the damage alone is expected to exceed 5.5 billion won.

According to Ten Asia's coverage on the 19th, the venue for the Redemption Music Festival was known to be Songdo Moonlight Festival Park in Incheon, but it was confirmed that no consultation was made with the facility management.

The Incheon Facilities Corporation, which manages the Songdo Moonlight Festival Park, told Ten Asia, "The Redemption Music Festival organizers have not yet negotiated a location with the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority," adding, "The concert organizers have not even scouted a location. “We are getting a lot of calls asking about selling tickets,” he said.

He went on to explain, “There was a case last year where tickets were sold for an idol festival but ended up not being held. With a month left until the festival is scheduled to be held, it would be unreasonable to apply for a rental venue now.”

Normally, when applying to rent a place with a concentration of 500 people, it goes through a safety inspection period at the fire department and district office. The explanation is that there is not enough time to consult with relevant ministries and meet the safety inspection period.

Currently, basic seats to VIP seats are being sold on the Redemption Music Festival website. Basic seats are 138,000 won, and VIP seats are 1.38 million won.

The area of Songdo Moonlight Festival Park is 179,000㎡, and the average number of people per day, considering the floating population, is 20,000. In terms of basic seating, the ticket price for the two days of the event is 5.5 billion won.

A total of 44 artists and DJs are scheduled to appear at the Redemption Festival, including Tyga, OFFSET, Clean Bandit, and Conor Maynard. However, the audience who purchased tickets to enjoy the festival is anxious as the venue has not even been selected.

Reporter Junho Yoon, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr