Redefinition of the Fan-Idol Relationship in the Virtual Idol Era: A Study of PLAVE

cr: VLAST

As the rapid growth of the K-pop wave and digitisation go hand in hand, there have been various attempts to create innovations in the industry, including the creation of virtual idols. While the concept of virtual idols has been popularised long since the creation of “Lynn Minmay” from the Japanese anime series Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1984), the transition from fictional characters to a blurred line between real-world idols and virtual idols can be seen from the popularity of Hatsune Miku, a “virtual singer software initially presented in an anime-style format” (Liu 2023, p. 2). The attempt to integrate the concept of virtual idols in K-pop is further exemplified by the introduction of the group “Aespa” by SM Entertainment, which introduced the idea of a digital alter ego of the human members (Nuranda and Purwaningtyas 2023, p. 1). However, the concept of PLAVE stands out as it is more similar to those of VTubers, where real people are behind these virtual idols, wearing motion capture suits to create a virtual appearance that is achievable through technology, as seen in the production of the Avatar (2009) franchise. PLAVE was formed in 2022 by a local tech startup, Vlast, consisting of five members — Yejun, Noah, Bamby, Eunho, and Hamin. Aside from singing, dancing, and rapping as K-pop idols, PLAVE also produced their own music and choreographed their own dances, further elevating the contrast between them and other virtual idols. In this essay, I will analyse the emerging popularity of the virtual K-pop idol PLAVE and how it affects the relationship dynamics between the idol and the fans as well as the K-pop industry, focusing on the theory of affective and immaterial labour, as well as Schumpeterian’s disruptive innovation.

Fans and their Hard Work

Many forms of labour are at play in a fandom space, including that of PLAVE, often called PLLI. These labours, which include immaterial and affective labour, are a testament to the fans’ dedication and passion for PLAVE. In this context, immaterial labour refers to the activity that produces cultural content, involving activities related to cultural and artistic standards and public opinions (Terranova 2000, p. 41). By producing and consuming content related to PLAVE, the fans are building and cultivating a cultural community brought together by their shared admiration towards the virtual group. When a member of a fandom produces content in their space for other fans to consume, such as fan art, fanfiction, video edits, or managing a fan account and translating content, they are participating in immaterial labour. Furthermore, they are also doing free labour for the idols as the content gives them exposure and free marketing. According to Yoshida et al. (2015, cited in Liu 2023, p. 7), fandom positively impacts the brand assets and “four fan community-related outcomes: Fan community involvement, customized product usage, member responsibility, and positive word-of-mouth.” Thus, not only does the immaterial labour attract new fans, but the interaction also gives fans a sense of community.

In addition, fans’ content comes from their emotional attachment and admiration for the idols through communicating and interacting with them on live streams, fan calls, and other live sessions. This also counts as a form of affective labour as it involves the manipulation of feelings and emotions. According to Liu (2023, p. 4), the fan-idol relationship relies on psychological emotions elicited through their interaction with each other, and this connection is made not only through the level of attractiveness of the virtual idols’ appearances but also their talents. This is also one of the aspects that separates them from other virtual idols, portraying themselves as more similar to a traditional K-pop group, with the addition of digital avatars to conceal their real identities. This way, fans could focus more on their talents and personality than their appearance, minimising the harm of unrealistic beauty standards.

Additionally, unlike human idol group fandoms, PLAVE’s fans only produce content based on their virtual personality and appearance, adding an extra layer of privacy for their personal life, which means their personal information is protected by a formal written contract with their agency. This could potentially alleviate the issue of toxic fan-idol relationships, which can be quite intense to the point of invasion of privacy and development of parasocial relationships. However, one of the influences on the development of parasocial relationships between fans and celebrities is psychological satisfaction through self-disclosure in their social media interactions (Chung and Cho 2017, cited in Liu 2023, p. 6). This is why the parasocial aspect between PLAVE and their fans is still prevalent due to them being seen as more relatable and ‘human’ than other virtual idols. An example of this can be seen in how fans can participate in immaterial labour by donating monetary funds directly through their YouTube and Twitch live streams, where they can interact with PLAVE through the chatbox and send messages that the idols can see and read, similar to those of non-idol online streamers. This also counts as a form of affective labour, as without a psychological connection, people would not voluntarily give money to creators or idols. Hence, albeit slightly different from the traditional idol fandom community, immaterial and affective labour are also prominent in a virtual K-pop idol fandom, specifically PLAVE.

A Fresh Take on the K-pop Wave

Although the concept of virtual idols had been developed and popularised before PLAVE was created, the group’s introduction to mainstream audiences has opened up new opportunities and avenues in the K-pop industry. This is mainly because PLAVE’s concept differs from usual virtual idols or singers, as real musicians behind the animation-style models are involved in producing their music and creating their choreographies (Benjamin 2024). PLAVE’s unique concept has brought new possibilities to the K-pop industry, making it possible for idols to perform and showcase their talents without having to face backlash created by the industry’s unrealistic beauty standards. This could be related to Schumpeterian’s theory of disruptive innovation, in that the industry is being introduced to a new, refreshing concept that might attract more customers and intrigue the existing ones, the customers here being the fans. According to Bower and Christensen (1995), there are two characteristics that a disruptive innovation should fulfil: One is that it presents distinct performance attributes that initially were not valued by existing customers. Two is that the performance attributes that the existing customers value are improving rapidly in a way that enables new technology to enter the established market. Two of these characteristics are met by PLAVE, both in the established market of virtual talents and the conventional K-pop industry. I will mainly focus on how the creation of PLAVE shifted the way the K-pop industry operates in the new era of technology and how it changed the audience’s perspective on virtual idols in general.

Firstly, PLAVE’s concept is a more organic twist on the virtual idol concept. They combine the appearance of virtual, animation-like avatars while still singing, dancing, and rapping like a conventional K-pop idol group would. They also interact with their fans through live streams and other forms of interactive media, allowing fans to be familiar with their personality and build an emotional connection between fans and their idols. According to Vlast (2024, cited in Yoon 2024), PLAVE members are only virtual on the outside, while their members do idol activities in real life, such as songwriting and choreography, which makes them “…has achieved the optimal mix of human appeal and virtual technology.” This concept challenges the norm of a traditional K-pop idol group while also distinct them from other virtual talents in the market, such as Hatsune Miku, a virtual singer software, or other VTubers that mostly only show the top half of their avatar. Due to the differences between the two industries, the concept of PLAVE might be jarring to some K-pop fans and intriguing to those familiar with VTubers. This can be seen from how, when PLAVE was first introduced, the group received backlash from the general audience that might not fully understand their concept, assuming they were a product of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is starting to decline as more people learn about their concept. These examples align with the first characteristic of disruptive innovation, a distinct personal quality that might initially not be accepted by the existing market. As their popularity grows, PLAVE, as a disruptive innovation in the industry, may also shift the existing K-pop market’s perspective on virtual idols, seeing them as actual artists and thus opening up new opportunities for virtual talents in the K-pop industry, which possibly leads to diversification of styles and variations of the virtual idol concept.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also opened pathways to normalising virtual-based idol activities and interaction between fans and idols. Before the pandemic, most, if not all, idol activities were usually done face-to-face, from concerts to fan meetings, where idols could interact and build connections with their fans. Online-based activities were more common through social media accounts, in which they would give fans updates on their activities and daily lives by uploading pictures or videos of themselves and doing live streams online. During the pandemic, the industry had to adapt to the social distancing regulations, which made them develop new technologies to continue their activities while still following the regulations at the time, which involved doing business virtually (Yoon et al. 2022). They had to transition from doing concerts in a big arena to idols performing live concert streams virtually, with fans only able to watch them through the screen.

Moreover, they also had to change the method of doing fan meetings from gatherings in a hall to having fans participate in 1-on-1 calls with their idols. Although the pandemic was devastating for every layer of society, it brought advantages for PLAVE, which debuted as a virtual K-pop group after the pandemic died down. Compared to their predecessor, such as Adam, the first K-pop virtual singer who debuted in 1998 (Yoon 2024), PLAVE has the advantage of debuting in an age where digital media are significantly more embedded in daily lives. PLAVE’s rapidly growing popularity might also be due to how K-pop fans have grown accustomed to seeing virtual-based idol activities, making it easier for them to get accepted by some of the general public and get acclaimed for their art as idols.

On top of that, the success of PLAVE has also influenced the big K-pop companies to mimic its concept and develop their own version of virtual idols to adapt to this disruptive innovation. According to Evangelista (2017, p. 137), technological change and innovation play a significant role in economic growth and competitiveness. An example of this can be seen in HYBE’s recent acquisition of an AI voice-changer startup called Supertone and showcasing the technology by releasing a new single in six different languages from an artist called MIDNATT, an “alter-ego” of HYBE’s singer Lee Hyun (Stassen 2024). This faced backlash from the community as discourse surrounding the usage of AI, especially in creating art, is deemed inorganic and destructive in the long run. This could also be related to Schumpeterian’s theory of creative destruction, where companies are forced to adapt to new technologies to prevent failure (Reier 2000). Thus, PLAVE, as a disruptive innovation, has managed to challenge the conventional K-pop industry by introducing new possibilities for how a K-pop idol group can operate, especially with the help of technology in the digital era.

To conclude, the introduction of a virtual K-pop idol with a unique concept, such as PLAVE, shows how disruptive innovation in the K-pop industry has started reshaping the way the industry operates while still maintaining the traits of conventional affective and immaterial labour in fandom spaces with fewer risks compared to a traditional human K-pop group. Hence, PLAVE opens up opportunities for the industry to develop new creative innovations while tackling issues related to the privacy and safety of their talents.

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