As K-Pop market expands beyond the domestic to international there are new idols that are emerging one after another. It’s interpreted that as idols are over exposed in internet and TV with a shorter lifespan the idol market is coming to have a faster rotation. Even among idols especially the numbers of boy groups are even more as they are generally easier to gain a fan base.

April 9 a large scale group EXO appeared before the public with their debut album ‘Mama.’ A boy group formed by SM Entertainment aiming the Chinese and international market in mind, following Girls’ Generation, and Super Junior. The group consists of two subgroups EXO-K and EXO-M to promote K-Pop both in Korea and China.

Cube Entertainment that houses 4minute, BEAST debut a seven member group BTOB on April 3. The group consists of dynamic choreography and strong vocal ability.

Pledis Entertainment that entered the popularity orbit with 8 member girl group After School has formed a boy group after one year, which is the 5 member group NU’EST debuted last month. The group name stands for ‘Creation of new music matching to new music’ have both good looks and excellent talent that has garnered a lot of interest. The group garnered a lot of attention as the teaser video of their debut mini-album ‘FACE’ received over 1milion views on YouTube.

Boy group B.A.P consisting of 6 members debuted in the end of January belongs to TS Entertainment that houses SECRET. The group is actively holding promotions with the release of their debut single ‘Warrior.’

In the past it took several years for the agencies to form a subsequent popular idol group. It was difficult finding new talent, and easier to raise income through existing popular idols.

However recently this term has become noticeably shorter, one of the main reasons is due to rapid expansion of K-Pop market.
Another interesting distinction is that majority of the new idols are boy groups.

It has been reported that boy groups are easier to form a fan base and cost of maintaining a boy group is less than a girl group. Also while girl groups are generally have a similar image of cuteness or sexy, boy group has an advantage of being able to portray a variety of images.

A staff member of Korea Creative Content Agency explained, “The agency are debuting various idol groups to meet the diverse need of international fans that are coming to take higher interest in K-Pop.”

The over exposure of idols on TV and internet is causing the groups to have a shorter ‘lifespan’ urging more idols to follow up. The variability of the music industry is becoming higher with trends that are changing quickly and faster turnover of hit songs. Some even mention the longest term to promote one song is about to be 5 weeks.