When a K-pop group disbands, fans blame everything from scandals, creative differences, certain members. There’s also the infamous “seven-year curse,” when idols choose to not renew their contracts with their agency.
The one thing most people don’t understand about K-pop is that it operates as a two-tier system. Groups signed to the Big 4 agencies, HYBE, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, play by a completely different set of rules than everyone else.
The Big 4 Safety Net
Big 4 groups are treated as long-term brands, while Smaller agency groups are nothing but short-term investments.
When a Big 4 group goes on hiatus, members pursue solo careers. The company maintains the brand while the fans wait patiently.
When a small agency group goes quiet for six months, fans panic. They doompost on social media, nitpicking every interaction or bubble message for a sign the group is still active (or inactive).
Longevity Is About Machinery, Not Music
Fans talk about disbandment like it’s a massive failure. They argue the agency didn’t do anything to promote the group or the music wasn’t good enough.
The actual problem is far more complicated.
Big 4 companies have global marketing teams. They also have in-house divisions for acting, modeling, variety shows, and solo music careers. A failed comeback or two won’t cause much harm because they usually have several popular artists to fall back on.
Smaller agencies have none of that. They have few resources so funding a comeback can be a gamble. If a group doesn’t hit it out of the park, they sometimes can’t afford to try again.
A group from a small agency could have more talented members, better music, and a more dedicated fanbase than a Big 4 group. And they’ll still disband if they fail to win any support from the general public.
The “Seven-Year Curse” Is Actually Class-Based
The seven-year contract cycle is treated as this disturbing phenomenon in K-pop.
It’s not.
Big 4 groups often renew contracts or continue to promote even after members leave the company. They maintain group activities while pursuing individual work. Some go years between comebacks and no one questions whether they’re “still a group.”
Smaller agency groups rarely get that luxury. When their seven-year contracts expire, it’s over. What makes the curse so unnerving for fans is that only some groups have the resources to survive it.
Disbandment is Business Decision
Unfortunately, most disbandments are a cost-cutting measure. The company decides to invest in a new group to start over instead of renewing contracts with an underperforming one.
There’s no betrayal, no creative differences. Just a spreadsheet showing the group isn’t profitable enough to justify continued investment.
The members wanted to continue. The fans wanted more music. But the infrastructure couldn’t support it, so it ended.
What This Means for K-Pop’s Future
If the industry continues to go down this path, K-pop will lose the diversity that makes the genre so special.
Talented trainees will choose to sign with the Big 4 agencies because they’re the only ones who can offer long-term stability. Smaller agencies become systems that debut groups, hope they blow up, then watch other companies poach the more successful members.
Innovation will suffer since unique concepts usually come from smaller agencies with nothing to lose. If those groups can’t survive past one contract cycle, then experimentation dies with them.
What bothers me most is that this outcome isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice the industry is making.
K-pop markets itself on the dedication between artists and fans. The idea that supporting a group from their debut is a meaningful journey.
But the idol industry guarantees most of those journeys will be cut short.
Fans are told to stream more, buy or bulk albums to “save” their group. As if consumer behavior can overcome structural inequality.
The constant threat of loss keeps fans engaged, as they fight to keep a group afloat, even when the industry won’t help to sustain them.
