Learn More About Fansign Events
As a K-pop fan, meeting your favorite idols in the flesh is definitely on your bucket list. The most common way is to attend your favorite idols’ concerts in your country. If you have an opportunity to visit South Korea, you can visit K-pop idols’ agencies, participate in music shows and open radio shows, join fansign events, and watch their musicals. Among those activities, the best one for getting to meet your favorite idols face-to-face is a fansign event.
In this article, Byeol Korea will explain more about fansign events in the Korean entertainment industry. So, stay tuned!
About Fansign Events
Fansign events are one of the best ways to meet your idols face-to-face. Idols will typically hold fansigns within the first 2–4 weeks of their comeback or debut. They also may hold fansigns for brands they endorse. At these events, idols can sit down and talk to their fans while signing their albums. Fans often give gifts to the idols and have a conversation with them. The idols often wear fan gifts and do silly poses. If you’re ever in South Korea, a fansign is a must-do activity for any fan’s itinerary.
Fansign Schedule Information
The first thing you need to do is find the fansign schedule information. The information usually announced on the idols’ official fan café or another official venue of communication from their company. For example, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment regularly post announcements for their artists on the artists’ homepages. Also, makes sure to follow the official social media accounts of your favorite idols. For comeback promotion, the company usually announces the fansign event schedule a week (or less) before the event.
As for the fansign held by brands, stores also post fansigning information. Artists usually do multiple fan signings at multiple stores during their promotion period, so it’s easiest to keep track of where and when they’ll be doing fansigns from their own websites.
Here are examples of fansign announcement from official fan café:
How To Get The Ticket
Generally, there are two types of fansigns: first-come-first-served and lottery-based. Both will only allow each fan to win one entry to the fansign event.
The first-come-first-served type is the easiest method to get into fansigns. This type is typically used by rookie groups, solo artists, or groups from smaller companies. Admittance is usually granted to the first 100-150 fans that come and purchase a CD at a specific store after a specific time. The keyword to look for in the announcement is 선착순 (seon-chak-sun), which means the fansign is first-come-first-served. Be ready to show up early to line up to get a spot.
Most groups hold their fansign events on a lottery-based system. Attendees of the fansign are picked through a lottery, with each album purchase equaling one ticket into the lottery. There will be a set purchase period for CDs, and fans will have to go to a specific store and purchase a CD within that time frame to be eligible for the fansign. After purchasing, you’ll be given a form to fill out. Just include your name, phone number (the international number is okay), and date of birth. Winners are announced through the store’s website, usually the night before the event.
Here are examples of fansign winner announcements for TWICE and VIXX’s fansigns:
For the lottery method, you often need to purchase more than one album to have a chance to get in. The more albums you buy, the more entries into the lottery you will get, so the higher your chance of being able to attend the fansign. However, fansign lotteries are random. Some fans have bought more than 70 albums but didn’t get into a particular event. One fan was extremely lucky and only bought 8 albums, and she got in.
Pay attention to the stores, as well. Oftentimes, stores will split the number of winners across two stores. Your chances are better if you purchase from a store that doesn’t split their winners across various locations. In addition, it’s better to purchase in bulk all at one store than split your purchases across multiple sites. Some fans also say to pay attention to the time and location, as fansigns located in inconvenient locations and at inconvenient times are usually slightly easier to strike for. Lotteries are usually easier to win in cities outside of Seoul. You can often call the stores and order over the phone during the fansign period, and stores will ship the CDs to you.
Fansign Events for International Fans
The most important thing for international fans to want to join a fansign event is being in South Korea around the time of the fansign event, as fansign events mostly take place in that country. For the first-come-first-served type, you could just show up early at the designated place and buy the CDs. As for the lottery-based, if you haven’t arrived in South Korea to buy the CDs during the purchase period and you happened to know someone who’s in the country already, then she/he can buy the CDs for you and input your details on the entry coupon given by the store. Just make sure that it will match the details on your passport.
As for the language barrier during the fansign, if they can speak in English then you can just speak to them in English. If you can speak in Korean then you can talk to them is Korean. They actually appreciate it when foreign fans try talk to them in the Korean language.
