The March 2021 fight between Spotify and Melon was one of the most decisive fights of KPop history.
In Korea, Spotify and Melon were fighting. Spotify was winning and Melon was losing but still holding a good fight, as its chief singer was battling Brave Girls to continue to maintain her supremacy in Korea.
Then, in early March 2021, Spotify removed all songs distributed by Kakao.
It was a masterstroke which broke Melon's power.
Melon promoting dubious ballad songs only popular in Korea, such as Nilo, Jandukchul (whose activities hurt OhMyGirl decisively), Shaun and other lower quality balladists who are remembered by very few nowdays, kept Kpop groups away from Melon and the Melon chart continued to be infested by balladists.
(The trottists also took major portions of Melon but since they didn't threaten #1 they presented a lesser threat.)
Spotify's attack of Melon was sudden and Melon, with most of Kakao singers removed, had to comply to Spotify's demands.
That had a decisive effect on the power structure of Korean digitals; the enormous power of Melon was broken and now Spotify was seen as being more relevant. Since the Korean balladists' music had no presence on Spotify their importance died.
All these lower quality balladists disappeared without a trace. Only Kyungseo survives by ending up in a soccer themed show in Korea.
After March 2021, only two ballads topped Melon, Lee Mujin's Traffic Lights in 2021 (which was later founded to have a lot of things in common with Sekai no Owari's Dragon Night - Lee Mujin has not released anything after this plagiarism accusation) , and Kim Minseok (the Melomance guy)'s Drunken Confession 2022. (Taeyeon's Invu is not a traditional ballad.)
The Korean Hip Hop held on for longer, but since they had absolutely zero place in Spotify, they began to wane by end of 2022. Ditto to songs released by various iterations of Yoo Jaesuk's team. as Yoo has become jaded as well.
As the focus moves to Spotify Tiktok and Billboard Hot 100, songs which can't chart there are no longer 'hot'', and that was the end for acts which relied on Melon to maintain their relevance.
Spotify breaking the back of Melon was decisive ; it ended the relevancy of Korea-only acts, mostly balladists and hip-hop. Only the Biggest One of All remains and she felt the pressure strong enough to invite NewJeans to her show, realizing her days are now numbered.
