KT&G (CEO Baek Bok-in Baek) is soliciting participants by May 8 for ‘2023 My First Concert’, to help launch careers of indie musicians. 

KT&G Sangsang-madang Hongdae is helping indie musicians grow through various music projects. Among the projects is ‘My First Concert’, which has been hosted for nine years since 2015. It is a program which selects musicians with the potential for growth, and KT&G supports the musicians in holding their first concerts.

Regardless of the genre, a musician who has not held his or her solo concert at a venue with 100 seats or more is eligible to apply. An application may be submitted through the Sangsang-madang website ( www.sangsangmadang.com ), or the Sangsangmadang Live Hall Instagram account (@ssmadang_live).

The four teams finally will be selected after the musicality, potential for development, and other elements are reviewed, and they will be given an opportunity to perform alone at the live hall of KT&G Sangsang-madang Hongdae, free of charge, along with production cost for the concert.

A total of 40 teams, including Jisokury Club, who won the Hello Rookie Award at EBS, and Silica Gel, who won the 20th Korean Popular Music Award, have been selected through ‘My First Concert’ and hosted their first performances at KT&G Sangsang-madang Hongdae.

Sim Yeong-ah, the director of KT&G’s Social Contribution Office, said, “We have been hosting this program every year to support indie bands who are relatively unnoticed due to the lack of opportunities to perform despite their talents.” She added, “KT&G plans to support the development of new artists consistently in various ways through the music projects.” 

(Photo description) The poster of ‘2023 My First Concert’