Antenna's 'Sound Frame' offers better alternative to online concerts

Indie music agency Antenna began its "CON-X-IBITION" project on Tuesday titled "Sound Frame," a concert and exhibition mashup where visitors can sit and enjoy recorded videos of the agency's artists at the ..

Poster for Antenna's “CON-X-IBITION” project titled ″Sound Frame″ [ANTENNA]

Indie music agency Antenna began its “CON-X-IBITION” project on Tuesday titled “Sound Frame,” a concert and exhibition mashup where visitors can sit and enjoy recorded videos of the agency’s artists at the exhibition space Daily Teum.

While Covid-19 keeps people at home and away from concert venues, with only online video concerts to make up for it, “Sound Frame” aims to provide music lovers with a chance to enjoy video concerts on a big screen and with better sound quality, amping up the experience for both artists and listeners.

The exhibition takes place on the basement level of exhibit space Daily Teum near Gangnam subway station in southern Seoul. Daily Teum is a cultural complex operated by LG U+ to showcase its latest services as well as other cultural content to the younger consumers.

Every day until July 11, the exhibition plays a 40-minute concert featuring two acts from Antenna, seven times a day. There are six teams — Jung Jae-hyung, Lucid Fall, Jukjae, Sam Kim, Kwon Jin-ah and Lee Jin-ah and Yun Seok-cheol. A timetable shows which main act will be played throughout the day, and listeners can choose a time to come watch their favorite. The second performance will be shown randomly out of the five other teams.

To give a unique viewing experience, each musician’s performance has been given a unique theme of colors. The video was also shot in a hand-held method to allow viewers to feel closer to the artists than other online concert videos.

“Now is a time when musicians cannot perform, and that time keeps continuing,” said Antenna. “These are especially hard times for singer-songwriters whose income comes mostly from live performances. We hope to pioneer a new path of performance with ‘Sound Frame’ — a format that fits the contemporary needs.”

Reservations can be made through Ticket Link’s website or the Daily Teum app, but online tickets will only be available for use through the Daily Teum app. Admissions cost 30,000 won ($27). The first performance starts at 11 a.m. and the last one at 8 p.m. Thirty seats are available for each time slot, and guests can pick their seats within the venue on a first come, first serve basis.

Earlier this week, Kakao Entertainment announced that it has acquired a portion of Antenna’s shares for a “strategic investment.” The two companies announced that they plan to discover and foster artists from various music genres together. Antenna was founded by singer and songwriter Yoo Hee-yeol in 1997.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]