The KMCA proposes guidelines for K-pop award ceremonies

The Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) and Circle Chart Music Awards logo [KMCA]

The Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) proposed a guideline for K-pop award ceremonies amid a flood of similar events popping up across the market due to the increasing popularity of the genre.

Around 20 K-pop and pop music award events are being held every year, five of which were created in the past five years with three more ceremonies pending to be added to the list this year, according to the KMCA.

While the abundance of awards may not be the problem, some organizers have been using the event as a means to make profit without proper musical standards, leading to diminishing the authority of the whole industry, the association said in a statement last March.

"K-pop fans around the world have been put through a heavy economic burden and fatigue because some award ceremonies are only using them for profit," the KMCA said. "Many ceremonies use paid voting systems to arouse a sense of competition among the fandoms, which leads to more revenue for the organizers."

The flood of ceremonies also means tight schedules for artists, many of whom are already exposed to severe working hours, according to the KMCA.

"The lower quality of such award ceremonies is leading to a deteriorating reputation of the whole K-pop industry," the statement said.

The guideline, published Thursday, lays out a set of recommendations that any K-pop award show should follow, and especially addresses the safety measures of the ceremony itself and a fair and transparent criteria for awardees. Specific items were laid out in a guidebook uploaded on the KMCA's website.

The KMCA also promised to "indefinitely" postpone its own award ceremony, the Circle Chart Music Awards, after a self-reflection on the problems it pointed out.

"We will also publish a recommendation of standard contracts for artists taking part in award ceremonies within July," the KMCA said.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]