Antenna (Hangul: 안테나) is a South Korean music and entertainment agency founded by You Hee-yeol of the project band Toy in 1997. Formerly an independent label, it was fully incorporated as a subsidiary under Kakao Entertainment in August 2021. Antenna is known for its motto: "Good people, good music, good laughter".
History
1997-2011: Formation and first generation of artists
South Korean musician You Hee-yeol, known as Toy, founded the indie record label "Toy Music" in 1997. In the early years, the label had produced and published several albums for artists including Lucid Fall, Kim Yeon-woo and You Hee-yeol himself as Toy.
In 2007, the label's name was changed from "Toy Music" to "Antenna Music". It means introducing music that is faithful to the essence of music and spreading good musical waves to everyone even if it is a small radio wave. In the same year, Antenna Music debuted South Korean rock band Dear Cloud.
In 2008, the modern electronic band Peppertones signed under Antenna Music. On September, Antenna Music signed pianist and film musician Jung Jae-hyung after completing his degree from the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Singer-songwriter Park Sae-byul debuted the same year under the agency.
In April 2010, the first label concert called "The Great Disappointment Show" was held as a gimmick to prove the best vocal artist of the agency.
In 2011, with the success of the first label concert, a second label concert was held called "Antenna Music Warriors: Yes, we are together" with a follow-up concert called "Encore Antenna Music Warriors Concert: Always, We Are Together".
2013-2020: 2nd generation of artists and producers
From 2013 to 2017, You Hee-yeol served as a judge on Seasons 3–6 of the reality television competition show K-pop Star. During this time, Sam Kim, Kwon Jin-ah, Jung Seung-hwan, Lee Jin-ah and Lee Soo-jung signed to the label after successfully auditioning for the program and finishing in the top three of their respective seasons.
In 2015, the name "Antenna Music" was changed to "Antenna".
On April 10, 2016, Sam Kim debuted with his E.P. called "My Name is Sam". Lee Jin-ah then made her debut under the label with the single "I'm Full" on June 10. Kwon Jin-ah also made her debut with the full length studio album called "One Strange Night" on September 19. On September 23–25, the third label concert was held called "Hello Antenna:The Label Concert". This is a joint concert between the "Antenna Warriors" (Seniors namely: You Hee-yeol, Jung Jae-hyung, Lucid Fall,Peppertones and Park Sae-byul) and "Antenna Angels" (Juniors namely: Sam Kim, Kwon Jin-ah, Jung Seung-hwan, Lee Jin-ah) with the exception of Lee Soo-jung who was in the U.S. at the time to focus on finishing her studies. On November 19, Jung Seung-hwan made his debut with the EP "Voice".
On March 2017, "Antenna Angels", had their first joint concert named "We, Begin". Antenna had another label concert tour named "With, Antenna" where all the label artists performed for the first time in 5 cities both of South Korea and U.S. namely Seoul, Busan, Daegu, L.A., and New York
On March 18, 2019, Antenna announced that they had signed jazz pianist and producer Yun Seok-cheol. On June 19, Lee Soo-jung (Chai) released her first single under the label called, "Give and Take".
In 2020, with the difficulties caused by global pandemic Covid-19, the label held online contents and live streams under the tag "Everything is OK" with Antenna. A re-released song by Peppertones named "Everything Is OK" (with Antenna Ver.) became its theme song where the Antenna's artists participated. All proceeds were used for the purpose of overcoming Covid-19. On September 1, Antenna signed singer-songwriter and guitarist Jukjae. He was followed by composer and producer Seo Dong-hwan who joined on November 30. On December 20, Antenna's first agency Christmas carol named "Our Christmas Wish For You" was released that featured all their artists at that time.