sweetgelato said:

IDK they've always been a live performance group to me. It's where the group makes most of their money from and what they're know best for. If ticket sales start dropping, THAT'S where I start worrying.

YESSSS! That´s exactly what I think, they are a live performance group, and if u check most of their concerts still are sold out so that means that the popularity of the group related to the live performances, shows and concerts doesn´t dropped. Also we need to take into account that they released a whole New album(Momoiro Clover Z), followed by a digital single(Nightmare Before Catharsis) and another fisical single(Odoru Ponpokorin) also this single was released nearly to the Christmas concerts that this year are 3 shows. Another thing to take into account is that the MV of "Xiao Yi Xiao" (the first single as a 4 members group) has 24M visualization on the other hand "BLAST"(the last single as a 5 members group) has 2,5M, so basically the popularity of gthe group doesnt decreased at all; Yes Momoka was a really important element of the group because she somehow made the other members improve as much as she, their singing and dancing skills, and I will love her forever for that and for all the great moments that she shared with the other members, but we can´t dennied that the group as a 4 members group is a really good one, because they all have a complicity, it complements so well, and the atmosphere between them is so great, something that with 5 members many times did not happen and the atmosphere felt a little tense most of the time.

Momoclo have also had an increasing presence on streaming platforms. There's a big push on Twitter from their marketing accounts for streaming whenever a new single is released. They also continuously make playlists featuring setlist from live concerts and such. Japan has been behind on the streaming game, but it seems they're catching up. On Spotify alone they had 6.2 million streams, with 432K people from 79 countries in 2019 (source: https://twitter.com/momoclo_king_pr/status/1202734649778130944?s=19 ). Of course many other artists pull a lot more than that, but it shows they're far from dead. And as a personal anecdote, having gone to Japan to see them twice before Momoka left (2016 and 2017), as well as after (2018 and 2019) I haven't noticed any major change in what people think about them. Most people I've met in Japan who aren't into idols don't know much about them, except maybe a couple of songs like Saraba or Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo. That's the same in 2019 as it was in 2016. And the fans are still as hyped up at the concerts now as they were a few years ago. Naturally there were people who lost interest after Momoka left, and that's understandable. But there's also new fans coming in, and it seems most of Momoka's fans stayed fans of the group, albeit maybe not as fanatically as before.

With that said, I definitely do think they've been playing it a bit too safe with their singles lately, and though I've liked all the songs I think it would do them good to have something explosive and fresh like Mouretsu or Saraba. The new album has some songs like that, such as Road Show and MORE WE DO, but for some reason those weren't the songs that were showcased leading up the release.

They do have 12 groups in their roster right now!
That's quite a number. More than H!P or 48G actually
I think they're making a wise decision concentrating on what they have at the moment
Stardust is a huge agency, with idols only being one part
So money does not flow that easily and automatically I'm sure

mr_sas said:

its kind of relieved to hear all of you guys have said, thanks for vimoral to brought it up..
but the most worrying for me its that stardust seem to stop making new idol group(a really new group with freshly new member) after the disbandment of 3b junior , as far as I know all the younger group formed back in 2015 maybe 2016 and no new group for 4 years,.CMIIW. how lazy can they be. .

I'm happy for having encouraged the forum :)

I agree with many of your opinions.
On the one hand, it's true that Momoclo highlights by their lives and they still fill the venues where they perform. But they haven't had concert tour during this year, only the main events: Spring, Summer, Christmas...

the most worrying for me its that stardust seem to stop making new idol group

I've also been thinking about this. This year Stardust has been auditioning throughout the year in search of new idols:

vimoral said:

Stardust is looking for new members to include in Stardust Planet
Girls from 4th grade of Elementary School (9 years) to 3rd grade of High School (18 years)

https://twitter.com/stapla_official/status/1067639882623856641?s=19

https://www.stardustplanet.jp/kenkyusei/

So, I hope a new training group is created soon. I think that is possible that they present it at the January event of stardust planet.

http://momoiroclover.net/discussion/673/event-sutapura-idol-festival-koyoi-cinderella-ga-kimaru/p1