S outh Korea’s massive entertainment industry is bracing itself for a sharp drop in earnings as performances by the country’s most popular artists, including K-pop sensation BTS , are being cancelled or postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak . Days after the boy band performed their new single, On , in a special episode of Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show in New York, they axed three concerts in Seoul meant to kick off their new world tour on April 11. BTS’ last global tour, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself, sold about 49,000 tickets per show and earned an average of US$5.8 million in profits, according to Billboard. The tour concluded with a three-night show in Seoul last October that raked in US$832 million and drew a total audience of 130,000, a research team at Korea University’s School of Business estimated. BTS forced to cancel Seoul concerts amid virus outbreak The band’s Map of the Soul Tour is now scheduled to start on April 25 in Santa Clara, California – but that also seems to be in doubt, as the state is among many others in the United States that have declared a state of emergency over the pandemic. On Tuesday, Coachella – one of the biggest music festivals in America – was postponed from April to October. Many K-pop fans worldwide were anticipating the reunion of megastars Big Bang at Coachella after controversies, including a prostitution scandal , stopped the group from being active since 2018. As the Korean economy reels from the escalating outbreak, Chae Jung-jae from the Ministry of Culture said he did not know how much pain the entertainment industry would face. The official said, however, that activities that mostly took place online – such as music downloads – were likely to be safer from sharp losses. “It’s more of the consumer goods that will suffer heavy losses due to travel and entry bans,” Chae said. “Entertainment companies wanting to expand business abroad will now have to wait longer.” According to an analysis by the Export-Import Bank of Korea, South Korean cultural exports and the knock-on effects of their popularity brought in a total of 40.2 trillion won (US$33 billion) for the country in 2018. Kwon Joon-won, the dean of entertainment management at Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts, said the affected schedules for overseas performances would be a particularly significant blow to entertainment companies. “As events in foreign countries are more profitable for K-pop artists today, it’s going to be a big problem for Korean groups not being able to participate in events abroad,” said Kwon, who used to run his own entertainment agency. As of March 3, a list of 91 countries – including China, Japan and many Southeast Asian nations, which are among the world's largest overseas K-pop fan bases – have banned or restricted visitors arriving from South Korea . ‘Fake news’: K-pop stars angrily deny link to Shincheonji church CJ Entertainment, the organiser of KCON – the largest annual K-pop festival held outside South Korea – cancelled this year’s event, which was scheduled to take place on April 3 in Japan . SM Entertainment and JYP, two of South Korea’s top K-pop agencies, called off upcoming concerts in Japan for boy bands Super Junior and Stray Kids, respectively. Earlier this week, both South Korea and Japan suspended their visa-waiver programmes for each other. In addition, Japan now requires all visitors arriving from South Korea to quarantine themselves for two weeks. Kwon said all Korean entertainment events scheduled to take place across Southeast Asia had come to a complete stop in the past couple of weeks. “The biggest problem for the Korean artists will be the inability to fulfil contract requirements with foreign companies and broadcast stations,” Kwon said. “Someone is going to have to be legally responsible for these cancellations and they will incur high costs and losses, inevitably.” The situation is not as bad for studio-produced Korean dramas and TV shows, which are highly popular in Asia . “Our shows that are filmed inside a studio are taking precautionary measures, such as checking people for signs of a cold or fever,” said Park Sung-hoon, a producer at Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS). Television shows featuring citizens on the streets or live audiences have had to alter their programming. “There have been alterations to our shows that travel to outside locations or include interactions with citizens,” Park said. “Our K-pop music show Inkigayo is being filmed without a live audience.” Meanwhile, even as no Korean celebrity has tested positive for the Covid-19 illness, some stars have undergone a period of quarantine. Chungha, IU and NU’EST’s Hwang Min-hyun are each staying at home for two weeks after separately visiting Italy last month. Singer Chungha went into quarantine after two travel companions tested positive for the coronavirus during the trip. Italy has more than 15,000 cases and 1,000 deaths, and is the country worst affected by the outbreak outside China . Tzuyu, a member of girl group Twice, on March 3 returned home to Taiwan and underwent a 14-day quarantine after the band cancelled its concerts. Television personality Kim Bo-sung, who has appeared in many commercials with his famous catchphrase “loyalty”, is in voluntary quarantine after he visited Daegu on March 1 to give out free masks to the city’s residents. The southeastern city is the centre of South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak, with 75 per cent of all cases confirmed there. The local branch of the Shincheonji Church, a sect viewed by mainstream churches as a cult, is the source of most of Daegu’s infections. Daegu-born celebrities – including BTS member Suga, Red Velvet leader Irene, and recent Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho – have each donated 100 million won (US$83,000) to the city’s relief and community efforts. Corporations have also donated money to support South Korea’s fight against the coronavirus , and to provide sanitation items for low-income families, with entertainment agencies SM Entertainment and JYP putting in 500 million won (US$414,000) each towards disaster relief efforts. “In the past, such humanitarian deeds by celebrities were not so common,” said Kwon from Dong-ah Institute. He said the marketing strategies of companies that sold products to consumers included creating a positive image for their companies. “Goodwill is most likely a big part of it, but agencies are increasingly trying to shape their public images.” ■