[Newsmaker] Big Hit, YG, UMG, Kiswe eye global market with online concert platform VenewLive

YG Entertainment and Universal Music Group have joined hands with Big Hit Entertainment and Kiswe to grow VenewLive into a global-scale digital livestreaming platform.

YG Entertainment and Universal Music Group announced Wednesday that they had invested an undisclosed amount in KBYK Live, a joint venture founded last year by Big Hit Entertainment and Kiswe. KBYK Live created digital livestreaming concert service platform VenewLive last year, to much success, emphasizing the use of cutting-edge technology.

With YG and UMG joining VenewLive, the platform now has both high-quality content -- performances by top artists -- and cutting-edge technology such as multi-view livestreaming. Universal Music Group is one of the three biggest music companies in the world, with top artists such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Maroon 5.

“We are excited about this investment as our company with many artists competitive on the global stage has secured a high quality platform with leading technologies,” said YG Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Choi Sung-jun.

“We are delighted to join Big Hit, YG and Kiswe as partners in KBYK as we look to help further evolve the opportunities and live streaming experiences for UMG artists and their fans today, and into the future,” said UMG Chief Financial Officer and President of Operations Boyd Muir. “This past year has shown that the need for reliable and innovative live-streaming has never been greater. VenewLive offers some of the most creative and memorable opportunities for today’s artists to globalize their art and performances, tailored to enhance the community and fan-experience.”

VenewLive aims to use cutting-edge technology to deliver artists’ unique content in the best way possible, and to provide a revolutionary concert experience for fans.

The technology has already been proven through several Big Hit concerts last year. Streaming stability and high-quality video and audio were demonstrated through online BTS concerts “Bang Bang Con The Live” in June and “Map of the Soul ON:E” in October. The former drew in a peak concurrent audience of 756,000 while the latter was viewed by a total of 993,000 users worldwide. The shows also offered a variety of interactive and premium features such as multi-view technology, delivering a full stage production from multiple angles, with 4K resolution, live chat and synchronized light stick functions.

“Our technology will be the basis for enabling fans to feel closer to the artists, and help the artists express their energy on a digital stage,” said John Lee of KBYK Live.

“We have been developing video streaming and fan engagement technology since 2013 and are excited to use that digital technology to extend beyond the boundaries of a stadium to help artists perform to their global fans, and for those fans to feel like they are part of the concert,” said Kiswe CEO Mike Schabel.

“Big Hit’s attempts to maximize fan experience are not limited to entertainment, but also implementing various technologies. KBYK is also part of this effort,” Big Hit Global CEO Lenzo Yoon said. “Our dream and goal is to provide the most advanced technology currently available so that fans can experience the artist’s content in the best way possible under any circumstances. We will continue to study how new technologies and attempts in various fields can have a positive impact on strengthening our fan experience and actively introduce them.”

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)