NOL Universe will host a large-scale music festival drawing approximately 100,000 attendees, in a move to expand its platform ecosystem by directly producing K-content stages designed to attract domestic and international travelers and offering entry tickets and related services through its platform.
NOL Universe announced Thursday at Blue Square in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, that it will hold the "NOL Festival" on October 17 and 18 at KINTEX Hall 2 in Ilsan, Goyang. The company plans to stage the event at a scale that will draw roughly 100,000 visitors over the two days.
NOL Universe will operate three concept stages simultaneously, allowing attendees to choose performances that suit their tastes. The three stages are the "Super Live Stage," spanning generations and genres; the "K-pop Stage," featuring global fandoms; and the "EDM Stage," delivering intense sound and energy.
The first lineup unveiled the same day includes the group god and emotional rock band NELL for the cross-generational stage. K-pop artists Lee Mu-jin, WOODZ, Ha Sung-woon, NMIXX, and Hearts2Hearts will also participate. Alan Walker, a leading figure on the global EDM scene, along with Kim Ha-on & Now I'm Young, will also take the stage.
NOL Universe will operate the event primarily on a free-invitation basis for customers. Customers can receive entry tickets by using NOL Universe's services or by participating in various missions within the service. For customers who want to focus on specific artists' performances or preferred genre stages, some stages will be offered as paid tickets. NOL Universe also plans to open entry opportunities to overseas customers. "We expect foreign tourists to account for at least 10 percent of attendees," a NOL Universe official said. "Related services such as accommodations and transportation tied to the performances are being designed so that they appear together from the moment a customer books a performance on the NOL site."
Lee Su-jin, CEO of Yanolja, NOL Universe's parent company, said in a welcoming address, "Yanolja Group and NOL Universe are evolving to create a world where customers can enjoy not only travel but also leisure and cultural activities 10 times more easily and conveniently than now. We prepared the NOL Festival to make Korea a happy playground, and this event will become a reason for foreign tourists to visit Korea."
Lee Cheol-woong, CEO of NOL Universe, said, "Following our work connecting various forms of enjoyment such as travel, performances, leisure, and aviation in the online space, we now want to expand that value by creating a festival where we meet and experience things directly with customers. Through the NOL Festival, we plan to create a new play culture that anyone can enjoy with peace of mind and reinvent ourselves as a brand most vividly connected with customers."
