RE: Do you think hybe/source music made the right decision to disband Gfriend?

Never forget that Gfriend was one of the fastest groups to pay off trainee debt, that shows how good Sowon was at laundering money.

Quote from citron-icy

Amen.

Nope...I still have no idea as to why they were disbanded in the first place. They definitely seemed like one of the groups who were going to stay even if all the members didn't renew their contracts with the company. But the fact that they didn't even have the chance...

anon had a good point I didn't think about though, that this would just be dragging the group beyond their prime, and beyond the point they would still be growing, as people take interest in newer groups.

Gfriend & Lovelyz: latest release sales lower than previous release -> disband

Apink: latest release sales higher than previous release -> although there might not be group cb for a while, no official disbandment, because it proved the group is actually still gaining in fans

Quote from Help1

anon had a good point I didn't think about though, that this would just be dragging the group beyond their prime, and beyond the point they would still be growing, as people take interest in newer groups.

Gfriend & Lovelyz: latest release sales lower than previous release -> disband

Apink: latest release sales higher than previous release -> although there might not be group cb for a while, no official disbandment, because it proved the group is actually still gaining in fans

Though gfriend didn't really reclaim their gp popularity, their physical sales stayed constant throughout 2020 with Hybe.

Time for the moon night and and Time for us have ~90,000 sales each while and labyrinth and song of the sirens had 80,000-90,000. Though their 回 series did less copies, it wasn't such a stark decrease. Gfriend's last year is also one that kinda reignited them, at least in my eyes. I have a feeling they would've still been relevant for a few years, espeically when Viviz is being so well-received.

Lovelyz were definitely past their prime though, even I can say that as a lovelinus

Jist like what others have said, gfriend have become really stagnant with their comeback series after joining hybe. They never had an album surpass 100k (although it maybe couldn't because soumu stopped producing copies) and their charting on korean charts werent improving at all. Will never forgive knets for sleeping on Queen Mago. Although i think that hybe should've gave them one more chance after mago because i think there were atleast new international fans that got attracted. (They should've had just mago and skipped either crossroads or apple😭)

It's hard to say anything because if you see from the business perspective, the answer is big yes. Hybe is already proving that they're right based on their new girl groups' performance. Higher sales, good charts, lots of engagement and cfs. They have all what GFriend don't seems to have during their time in Hybe.

On the other hand, from fans' perspective, of course it's such a cold-blooded move to disband a group that put a light for their company since forever. It's like Rbw disbanding Mamamoo for their new gg. Nobody gonna accepted this if their faves suddenly get disbanded especially without any notice and the group themselves always talk that they will renew their contract.

In short, you can choose your perspective. Am I bashing Hybe for their decision? Not really because they're a corporate label which profits is really important but they should at least give proper disbandment notice. Am I bashing the fans for not acknowledge this? Of course not, they have right to grieve and mad at the company but don't attack the new gg under the company, they don't do anything wrong.

GFriend and NU'EST never should've disbanded

Hybe making good decisions?

Gfriend was an unique gem among the Kpop landscape and HYBE wasted them.

It's simple...... they weren't making enough money for the company to keep them.

Well, at least for the company size of Source Music where Gfriend was their only money maker and they were still in huge debt.

HYBE basically saved Source Music or rather HYBE wanted a Label where they could specialise in future GGs because Big Hit had no idea.

The whole industry is moving on to 4th gen, keeping gfriend would have been a burden. Sucks to be the fans but it is what is it.

hybe can't have artists who can actually sing a little

I'm biased towards Ssamkura obviously but if Buddies want to vent by shading LSRFM, i generally just accept it. I know full well the rage that builds up when your faves are disbanded with zero warning and for no reason.

regardless of what the fans think about the musical side of things

the question is did they make enough money for Hybe and if the answer was no then disbandment would the correct business decision