South Korea's government and the four largest K-pop companies — HYBE, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment — have unveiled plans for FANOMENON, an 11-day music festival set to take over Seoul from 2 to 12 December 2027 Music Business Worldwide.

The festival will spread across two venues: Seoul Arena in the Chang-dong district and the KINTEX exhibition centre in Goyang. KINTEX will host music performances, an esports competition, film and drama soundtrack concerts, and exhibitions from Korean culture companies, according to MBW's reporting.

J.Y. Park, the founder of JYP Entertainment, presented the FANOMENON plans at a press conference at Seoul's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art on 27 July. Park co-chairs the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange — the government body overseeing the festival — alongside Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young. The chief executives of all four K-pop companies sit on the committee's music subcommittee.

The four companies first revealed plans for a joint venture back in April 2025, with each holding an equal stake to run the festival. That venture is currently under review by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission as part of its formation process. The festival itself was formally announced in April 2026 Hypebeast.

What sets FANOMENON apart from existing K-pop award shows and festivals is its awards structure. Rather than handing trophies to individual artists, the festival will recognise fan communities — the 10 most active fandoms of the year, selected using quantitative data. The joint venture behind the festival will generate revenue through ticket sales and corporate sponsorship.

The scale is considerable. The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute estimates the 2027 festival will draw approximately 520,000 visitors, including 200,000 inbound foreign tourists, and generate more than KRW 1 trillion (roughly USD $680 million) in economic impact. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will support promotion, inbound tourism, and transport logistics for the event.

FANOMENON is also designed to travel. A separate touring edition of the festival is planned to begin internationally from May 2028, with Los Angeles confirmed as the first stop Forbes. Forbes characterised the project as the K-pop industry's answer to Coachella.

As of the announcement, no full artist lineup had been revealed Bandwagon. With the four companies behind some of the world's best-selling K-pop acts between them, the lineup — whenever it lands — will be one of the most closely watched in the genre's history. For now, the structures, venues, and dates are in place, and the clock has started on a festival that Seoul is betting will become a fixture on the global music calendar.