Drenched by a Korean wave

Online shopping store TV Direct is taking its customers by surprise by organising what promises to be the biggest ever K-pop music festival in Asia, set for next Saturday at Rajamangala National Stadium.
“We are introducing our brand to a new group of consumers – teenagers,” says chief executive director Songpol Chanmatkit. “We usually put together only one concert a year.”
The online shopping portal, which claims to offer the largest selection of “as-seen-on-TV” products from around the world, took its first steps into showbiz with Saksit “Tor” Vejsupaporn’s concert in 2006 and 2007.
It brought the Danish band Michael Learns to Rock to Bangkok in 2008 and in 2009 put Tor Saksit back on stage in a farewell show before he left for Taiwan.
Khiriboon, a pop outfit from the 1980s, was due to perform last year but the concert was cancelled because of the floods.
Now TV Direct is back in the concert business big time with K-pop.
“We’re not a serious promoter like BEC-Tero [for big-name foreign artists] or Adamas [who used to bring in only Korean artists]. We’re just interested in entertainment. We wouldn’t enjoy doing more than one concert a year. Next year, we’ll probably look at more of a performance than just music.
“The K-pop concert really came out by chance. We often deal with Korean companies for our products and we were introduced to Korea’s biggest TV station, MBC. We think that the concert will be really interesting as we have 20 Korean bands,” says Songpol.
Those 20 bands include TVXQ!, 2PM, 2AM, Sistar, MBLAQ, Beast, 4 Minute, Secret, IU, FT Island, Teen Pop, Boy Friend, Norazo, Kara, Miss A, G.NA , SHINee, Infinite, T-ara and After School.
The show is scheduled to run for five hours and will take place on a stage measuring 80 metres wide and 20 metres high with two 30-metre catwalks and a mini stage.
The cost is nearly Bt100 million.
“There is no denying the fact that some of their previous one-off concerts have had an effect on our ticket sales, as teens clearly no longer have enough money to pay for it,” says Songpol. “The Korean TV company is very powerful. We believe that all artists will make a difference here. Even Girls’ Generation who can’t come is sending two of its members to act as emcees.”
Will TV Direct set up a subsidiary simply to support its showbiz activities in the future?
“Right now, we’re not thinking about it. We just want to keep on providing some entertainment.”
After Bangkok, the K-pop music festival is travelling to London and Los Angeles.

HAIL TO HALLYU
“Korean Music Wave Live in Bangkok 2012” takes place at Rajamangala National Stadium in Hua Mark next Saturday at 5pm.
Tickets cost Bt700. Call (02) 262 3456 or visit www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.