Beyond Live
Beyond Live is an online live concert streaming service and concert series by South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment in partnership with Naver. It is a paid concert streaming service. It provides full-scaled live online concerts using technology such as augmented reality and with real-time interactions between artists and live audience enabled. On its establishment, the platform has been regarded by global media as a Impact of [the COVID-19 pandemic on the music industry|relevant response in substituting traditional concerts] during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first live concert of the Beyond Live series was headlined by South Korean boy supergroup SuperM with the concert titled SuperM: Beyond the Future on April 26, 2020; the live concert recorded over 75,000 virtual tickets sold, playing to real-time audiences from 109 countries. In August 2020, JYP Entertainment joined with SM Entertainment to create the Beyond Live Corporation, a joint venture operating and expanding the Beyond Live platform. It was launched on December 23, 2021. Since its creation, multiple artists from SM and JYP have delivered full-length live online concerts within the Beyond Live series, and other K-pop entertainment enterprises started to produce virtual live concerts in a similar format.
Background, technology and media reaction
In April 2020, South Korea's largest entertainment company SM Entertainment and South Korean Internet search platform and media corporation Naver signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the purpose to expand the reach of concerts to a global audience. The joint effort lead to the creation of Beyond Live, a series of online live concerts. On April 20, SM Entertainment released a trailer on their official YouTube channel announcing the upcoming series of live concerts, with the first live show to be headlined by K-pop boy group SuperM. Initially, Beyond Live was scheduled with four concert dates in April and May 2020. The concerts were hosted on the V Live application and made available to audiences across the world. Subtitles in different languages were made available to the live audience. Together with real-time access to the live concert, the paid audience had rights to on-demand viewing of the concerts afterwards.Beyond Live enables the diffusion of real-time performances for full-length and full-sized arena live concerts in which there are no in-person audience. The format and design of the concert is optimized for the online audience with the aid of technology including augmented reality technology, three-dimensional backdrop graphics, live sync camera walk, and digital communication to enable real-time interactions between performers and the online audience. Specifically, Beyond Live concerts implement augmented reality graphics. Artists perform on a stage before "a backdrop of screens and visuals directed in real-time" by camera operators personnel. Real-time communication and Q&A sessions between artists and online audience are conducted via video calls.
Media reception
Global media outlets like Forbes, Rolling Stone, and ABC News have commended the platform as a viable and timely alternative to traditional in-person concerts, which were being cancelled around the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as ensuing rules on social distancing and restricted travels enforced in various countries. The Beyond Live concert series is also regarded as a digital innovation created to foster interactions between artists and the "technical-savvy audience." In addition, Forbes remarked that, even if the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is to be ignored, the concert streaming service still addresses a prevalent need from international K-pop fans located across regions K-pop acts rarely travel to, highlighting that for areas outside certain countries in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Australia, fans lack the chance for in-person concerts and would need to turn to online alternatives regardless.On August 4, 2020, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment announced the launch of the Beyond Live Corporation, a joint company for virtual concerts. It was formed to grow Beyond Live into a global online concert brand by strengthening global joint business development by adding synergy between SM's content production capabilities and Naver's technology.