K-pop streaming service Beyond Live launches with epic five-hour concert featuring Shinee

The service is the brainchild of SM Entertainment and will host exclusive content

Super Junior is one of many K-pop acts featured on the streaming platform Beyond Live. Photo: Wu Hong

One of K-pop's leading entertainment companies has launched a new streaming service.

Online from Saturday, the Beyond Live platform hosts exclusive content, from concerts to interviews, with artists signed to SM Entertainment.

Many of those acts were featured in the SMTown Live 2022 online concert on Friday.

Premiering on the platform and SM Entertainment’s social media channels, the epic five-hour show featured performances by nearly 20 artists, including singer Kai from Exo, Kangta, TVXQ, Super Junior and new girl group GOT the beat.

The concert heralded the full global activation of Beyond Live after a two-week soft-launch period.

The move also marked the fruition of the concept that initially began as a series of ticketed online concerts in April 2020, with shows by SuperM, WayV, NCT Dream and NCT 127.

The success of the series resulted in the creation of the platform, now available through a dedicated website and Apple and Android mobile phone applications.

At present, the signing-up process is free and can be done in various ways, including using your email, Facebook or Google account.

With available content subject to location, UAE users have 28 titles available from the Beyond Library – including concerts by Shinee and NCT – although when The National logged in on Sunday, all programmes were unavailable.

The content can also be previewed on the site, including the ticketed concerts by NGDA and Even of Day featuring multilingual subtitles, multi-camera options, emoji stickers and live chat.

Expect more content to land on the site this year, including appearances by international non-K-pop acts, according to an official representative. “As well as live streaming and Video on Demand services for concerts and fan meetings of K-pop artists, we will gradually expand the service to artist-related content… as well as Beyond Live originals, and we plan to prepare online performances by overseas artists.”