Making Ultra Korea into exciting EDM fest
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Richard Jung
By Park Jin-hai
Richard Jung said when he first witnessed an electronic dance music (EDM) festival, he experienced culture shock.
“When I first saw the edited video clip of Tiesto and Diplo performing the same song C’Mon in day time and night during the 2010 Ultras Music Festival (UMF), my adrenaline pumped wildly,” said Jung, who is now CEO of UC Korea which organizes the Ultra Korea festival in Seoul.
Started in 1999, the UMF brings the greatest EDM artists to the city of Miami, Florida, every March. Armed with cutting-edge productions and the hottest EDM lineups, it is currently held in 19 cities, including Ibiza, Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“The DJ was at the center of a spectacular stage, lighting and excited crowds of people. It came as a fresh culture shock to me,” he said. “I made up my mind to bring the world’s largest EDM festival to Korea.”
His wish came to fruition in 2012, when his company brought the UMF to Korea, its first Asian destination.
But the process was not easy at all, he said. “Until then, Ultra Worldwide had hardly known about Korea and the people in the Miami headquarters didn’t show any interest. In fact it was really hard even to make contact with them,” said Jung.
However, he’s continued showing up at festival venues whether they be in the U.S. or Brazil, and after relentless persuasion his company gained the license to host the festival in Seoul.
Started out as a large-scale urban EDM festival with 80,000 participants in 2012, it succeeded in attracting 110,000 people last year, despite the scare of the MERS outbreak.
Now it predicts that the number of participants this year will reach 150,000.
Marking its fifth year, Ultra Korea 2016 has added one more day to become a three-day festival that begins June 10 this year. For this year’s event, the 2012 headliner Tiesto is invited again, together with Afrojack, Avicii and deadmau5. More than 100 artists from all over the world will be coming to perform in Seoul.
“We are now delivering our knowhow to other Asian host countries, on production, emergency countermeasures, marketing and exchanges of artists and content,” said Jung.
“UMF has been the showcase for the world’s best artists’ live performances and albums. Full of splendid acts which are rarely seen here, Ultra Korea is Asia’s showcase of UMF,” said Jung. “I want to make it a place where people can break away from daily lives and have fun in the city.”