The biggest K-pop bands are Blackpink, BTS, Twice etc.

All are well-established and have no revolving lineup.

Kpop is a bit different.

Kpop has “generations” in the sense that mandatory Korean military service for men puts an expiration date on them all being present, and they fade away in popularity if only some of the members are present.

Also, the contracts are long, but idols don’t necessarily stay around if they think they can get a better deal elsewhere, or if they want to move onto another chapter of their life which idol employment doesn’t allow (like dating).

It’s Blackpink, BTS, and Twice now. Before them, it was 2NE1, 2PM, Miss A/the Wonder Girls, SNSD, etc.

This was the old Japanese supergroup model with AKB48 etc, but it never worked outside Japan and is starting to fail there as well.

I was a Morning Musume fan in high school but the members of the group kept getting younger as they were replaced, and I kept getting older. After a while, it stopped making sense to be a fan. (They never did a song "I'm sad about only being able to contribute $20,500 per year to my 401(k)".)

I never got into AKB48; is that they problem they are having, or is it something else?

I'm not familiar with the post-COVID situation, but I suspect VTubers may have eaten their lunch by operating a similar business model but without the risk of showing your face in public and becoming an IRL retelling of Perfect Blue.

Oh yeah, people really like the vtubers don't they. I see it all the time on r/all, but never really made the association with the AKB48 type fans.

Menudo did it first!