The bash, which ends Sunday, brings together fans of the music and the culture for three days of panels, meet-and-greets, swag, merch, live performances at both the convention building and at Crypto.com Arena, and so much more.<\/p>\n
“We’re always looking to expand the experience,” said Shaney Hwang, KCON’s marketing coordinator.<\/p>\n
That means five stages at the convention building for local cover teams as well as rookie K-Pop acts to strut their stuff.<\/p>\n
A performance by the K-POP group INI at KCON 2024.<\/p>\n
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A fan meet and greet event at KCON 2024.<\/p>\n
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“\u200aIt’s going to feel super up close and personal. I think that’s what’s unique about KCON to regular artist tours,” Hwang said.<\/p>\n
Last year’s KCON saw nearly 6 million fans participating, both in person and online. For the first time, Amazon Music will livestream the more than two dozen K-POP groups performing at Crypto.com this year \u2014 including aespa, Monsta X and Zerobaseone.<\/p>\n
Not bad for an event that started almost on a whim 13 years ago in Irvine.<\/p>\n
“\u200aWe only had about 10,000 attendees at the time. At the time we were thrilled to see such interest in K-Pop, and it’s only scaled up from there,” Hwang said.<\/p>\n
KCON 2024.<\/p>\n
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KCON 2024.<\/p>\n
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K-Pop has steadily grown since the now-legendary Seo Taiji and Boys caught fire<\/a> in 1992 in South Korea with a fresh sound, a new style and choreographed dance moves informed by American hip-hop. Over the next decades, the music known as K-Pop has come to dominate many parts of the world, almost under the nose of the U.S. mainstream.<\/p>\n That is until groups like BTS and Blackpink made everyone take note around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n “\u200aThe fans themselves \u2014 I always maintain that they’ve always been here in the tens of millions, if not more,” said Sang Cho, an industry veteran and co-founder of hello82,<\/a> a K-Pop music label, distributor and concert promoter based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n K-pop boy band BTS members RM (L) and V salute for fans and members of the press at an outdoor sporting facility in Chuncheon on June 10, 2025, after their release from 18 months of South Korean military service. <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n ANTHONY WALLACE\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n AFP<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n K-pop band BTS’s members Jungkook (L) and Jimin (R) are discharged from a mandatory military service on June 11, 2025 in Yeoncheon-gun, South Korea. <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Han Myung-Gu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Getty Images AsiaPac<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n “\u200aI think what’s changed is that the industry is finally catching up to the market size and the the strength of the fandom,” he continued.<\/p>\n Blackpink is currently in the European leg of their world tour, and each member has launched successful solo endeavors on the side.<\/p>\n
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