After taking a look at K-pop’s biggest agencies, I’d like to turn my attention to the smaller (but still important) players in the K-pop game, three at a time.
Disclaimer: As with my write-ups on K-Pop’s biggest agencies, this is written from an outsider’s perspective. I’m not privy to any business-related financial information beyond what any other fan would know. The purpose of these articles is to examine how well these agencies are serving their artists and the general K-pop fan-base.
KQ ENTERTAINMENT
KQ continue to keep things small, focusing on only two groups. ATEEZ remain their marquee act and the guys had a busy year. They toured extensively, renewed their contracts and released both Korean and Japanese music. And more importantly for me, this music marked an upward turn in quality. For the first time in awhile, it felt like they were stretching their sound a bit by playing with different genres. I enjoyed their output more than I have in years, though it seems as if sales slipped a little compared to prior years.
Meanwhile, xikers continue to see moderate growth, though it might not be happening as quickly as KQ would want. They’re promoted well, even if I feel that the agency continues to pick the wrong tracks for promotion almost every time. For me, their Japanese single Up All Night was a huge summer highlight and paints a promising road forward for them.
B
MYSTIC STORY
Mystic Story is still primarily an actors’ agency, but they’ve really dipped their feet into the idol world over the past few years. Apart from their established rock bands, Lucy is the most senior idol (-esque?) group from the agency. They operated as a trio this year, which felt a little strange. For me, their sound is in need of some new ideas, but they continue to be successful within their niche.
Girl group Billlie were inactive this year, though two of its members had a sub-unit release during the first half of the year. I don’t know what Mystic’s plans are for this group, but they kind of feel abandoned at this point. Long hiatuses like this are dangerous for mid-to-low-tier idol acts.
Most of Mystic’s promotion this year went to new boy group ARrC. The guys released three comebacks in 2025. Their music boasts some unique elements but they’re getting lost in the crowd of younger boy groups and continue to struggle with sales. I’m not sure what the agency can do to turn this around, but they need to do something.
C-
RBW (RAINBOW BRIDGE WORLD)
Ooh, this one’s irritating. Over the years, RBW has subsumed both WM Entertainment and DSP Media and has not done well by either of them. However, I’ll get to that later.
First, let’s look at the agency’s own artists. It was a rough year, to put it mildly. Marquee group Mamamoo continue to be inactive and the members who achieved the most 2025 success (ie: Hwasa) aren’t even part of RBW anymore. Meanwhile, ONEUS released a pair of albums that made little noise and saw dwindling sales compared to their commercial peak. ONEWE continue to churn out material with steadily increasing (yet still modest) sales. Then we’ve got Purple Kiss, who disbanded before their initial seven years had even passed. That happens quite rarely in K-pop and points toward big issues within RBW.
Worse yet, RBW continue to drain creativity (and maybe even resources?) from their subsidiary agencies. They messed around with ONF’s signature sound and producers, interrupting a promised two-part album series with a stopgap release. Essentially lying to your fans is not a good look. Meanwhile, new girl group USPEER debuted in the spring and haven’t released anything since. They’ll be easily forgotten without better promotions. Veteran artists B1A4 and Oh My Girl were pretty much inactive this year minus one digital single.
Things weren’t any better over at RBW’s other subsidiary DSP Media. DSP has long had a faded presence in the industry since their heyday over a decade ago, but they really feel like they’re running on fumes now. What little buzz KARD still had as a co-ed group feels like it has been usurped by ALLDAY PROJECT, while Young Posse continue to cater to their fanbase without moving much outside of that.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
the one member missing from lucy is currently enlisting and will finished next year around march. one of them, wonsang aka their main producer and bassist, are going to enlist soon too so we’ll be seeing their trio formation for 2 more years. sound wise, i see they like to keep trace of their previous track. it might be boring(?) for nonfans, but personally i think they taking use of their sound pretty well on live concert.
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The loss of Purple Kiss was tragic. They had some vocalists that really stood out in terms of ability and unique tone/style, and their worst songs were still solid/good, with most being great. Then, to see an agency with legendary names like Mamamoo, B1A4, and Oh My Girl and have them just sitting on these groups is absolutely bonkers. Something is not right in the state of RBW.
Billlie is another big bummer. They developed a decent cult following, and had some real standout tracks, but their agency is letting them down with inactivity.
Well… this post was a big bummer, but not Nick’s fault ;p
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I look at KARD as running on the same business model as Dreamcatcher, meaning touring as much as possible and ignoring mainstream Korean success.
Now Young Posse is following that model. They did a 15-date US tour in autumn 2024, and this year played shows in Turkey and Russia (maybe more, it’s hard to find info). And their choreography isn’t built for the camera like most K-Pop, it’s built for the stage (bigger movements). I think DSP knows that they’re doing with them and KARD.
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Still sad about Purple Kiss :< RBW totally fumbled their potential….I’m glad I saw them once in concert last year before it all went down
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ARrC is so good. I hope they’ve found their audience and just keep doing what they’re doing. GOOD LUCK ARrC!
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ONF contract renewals are coming up soon… I don’t know what to think, considering how RBW has messed with them recently. It’s not like they exploded in popularity once they were back from the military hiatus but they were doing steadily, and most importantly their music and partnership with Hwang Hyun still has a clear vision. But I don’t know if it’s looking good for ONF right now, sadly. Perhaps they’ll all leave together and regroup somewhere else/Monotree support, but I also don’t want them to renew with WM and then become an inactive/infrequent group like B1A4. I miss B1A4 so much, I wonder why they haven’t had more frequent group releases recently either?
I can take a yearly Oh My Girl release but I want that to be a big event, like it used to be. But with YooA leaving WM this year and signing elsewhere, it’s not looking very good there either. Seriously, what’s up with RBW? The crazy sudden Purple Kiss disbandment news when they weren’t even struggling all that much overshadowed almost everything else from them this year, but there’s definitely something wrong over there and I’m sad for all of these artists who’re stuck.
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the way rbw is handling their WM artists is really concerning. everything about onf’s comeback was confusing and uspeer NEEDS a comeback in january or february at the latest or they will be completely forgotten about. their debut didn’t do horribly but it was far from a mega hit and im really worried about their longevity if they don’t release something soon; even recording a 6 song mini shouldn’t take this long. billlie having no promotions this year outside of moon sua and siyoon is another huge fumble and something i can’t wrap my head around
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GOD I miss billlie. Sometimes I can still hear their voices
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It’s not just Purple Kiss, girl groups disbanding or being let go of their contracts before the initial seven years have passed has been quite common in the last couple of years: Cherry Bullet, Cignature, Rocket Punch, Weeekly, Secret Number, Everglow… The way I think about it is that there was a post-Produce 48 euphoria that resulted in a flurry of new girl groups (many of which with actual contestants from the show) while as it turns out the girl group market was about to contract in the following years. What we’re witnessing now is the result of this market realignment I guess.
Also note that, with the exception of Vine Entertainment who decided to reboot Secret Number, the rest of these agencies (FNC / C9 / Woollim / IST / YH / RBW) appear to have given up on girl groups altogether.
And while obviously it’s unfortunate that these groups couldn’t make the impact they were hoping for, given the circumstances I personally think it’s a good thing when agencies cut the contracts short and set the members free to try other things, instead of keeping them in the dungeon for the full seven years.
As for Billlie, yeah I think they’re on death watch by now, along with Wooah and Lightsum.
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Everglow regrouped actually, as a 4-piece, with Mia leaving & Yiren stuck on Yuehua Chine dungeon (:
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Mamamoo are supposed to make a comeback in June 2026, but I don’t know if I can wait that long.
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