The Japanese music missed a huge chance to capitalize on the anime boom of the late 90s and early aughts, and it all boils down to “fuck em, we refuse to modify our business model.” The Korean music industry was, apparently, taking lots of notes, because it largely avoided the same mistakes.
Japanese music industry* This is a huge bugbear for me. The J-Pop industry is wildly xenophobic, insular, and peak-bubble levels of corrupt, and they just shot themselves in the foot over and over.
The Korean music industry is insanely corrupt and abusive but decided to be export focused at some point. Comparative history would be really interesting because Korean culture overall is pretty insular as well.
They’re also allergic to meaningful aesthetic change or indie performers, so the stuff that’s making waves today is largely interchangeable with what was hot in the 90s. I can be on this soap box all day.