Antenna (record label)

Antenna (Korean: 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".

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".

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.

On July 7, 2015, the company restructured and rebranded from "Antenna Music" to "Antenna Co., Ltd", which is also known as just "Antenna".