Universal Music Group (UMG) and YG Entertainment are investing in VenewLive ― a joint venture set up by Big Hit Entertainment ― to nurture the new steaming platform in an effort to reach more people around the world.
Big Hit, the agency that represents BTS, announced Wednesday that YG and UMG have decided to invest in KBYK Live, a company established last May by Big Hit and Kiswe, a U.S. streaming service startup.
After creating the joint firm, Big Hit and Kiswe launched VenewLive last September to provide an online concert streaming service.
With YG and UMG on board, Big Hit said it aims to develop the service into a worldwide platform, where various musicians can interact with global audiences.
“As our company houses globally recognized, high-profile artists, holding a stake in a high-quality platform with leading technologies will have a positive effect (on the company),” Choi Sung-jun, COO of YG Entertainment, said in the statement. “Our company will continue to seek to provide different interactive experiences and new services to fans around the world.”
Boyd Muir, CFO and president of operations for UMG, also expressed excitement for the joint project, saying it will provide the “most creative and memorable” services to customers.
“The year 2020 has shown the need for reliable and innovative live-streaming more than ever,” he said. “We are delighted to join Big Hit, YG and Kiswe as partners of KBYK Live to provide more advanced opportunities and live-streaming experiences for UMG artists and their fans today, and into the future.”
The streaming service has successfully hosted concerts for stars of Big Hit’s labels last year, including two of BTS’ concerts ― “Bang Bang Con The Live” in June and “BTS MAP OF THE SOUL ON:E” in October.
It offered advanced features such as 4K/HD resolution, live chat function and multi-view technology which allowed viewers to watch the performance from different angles.
The joint venture will further develop its business into broadcasting concerts, selling concert-related merchandise, and add new interactive features to connect musicians and their fans.
“VenewLive already showcased incredible experiences of digital concerts to fans last year through several large-scale performances, using our cutting-edge technologies such as multi-views and 4K resolution,” said John Lee, CEO of KBYK Live. “We will use our technology to allow fans to further experience as close an interaction as possible with artists and for artists to express their musical energy on a digital stage.”
Big Hit has been keen on developing fan-based services for its stars, such as launching Weverse, an exclusive fan community, in 2019.
“Our attempts to maximize the fan experience go beyond entertainment to the implementation of various technologies,” the company’s global CEO Lenzo Yoon said, adding the new platform is part of its bigger plan.
“Our dream and goal is to provide the most advanced technology available for fans to consume the artists’ content reliably. And to do so, we will continue to study and implement new technologies that will have a positive impact on strengthening our fan experience.”
Source: The Korea Times
