The Decline of the Music Industry

True there, @bob540 and kinda vapid post-Kardashian twerking, etc. but remember the Elvis hip grind was considered too risqué for TV back in the day? Sex definitely sells. It's certainly part of the appeal of music videos going back to the MTV era and earlier. With music delivered as part of an entertainment "package" of dancing, effects, etc., you aren't necessarily being asked to listen to the music, or the vocal abilities of a singer. (Perhaps that's one reason I don't listen to as many female vocalists these days as I did 20 years ago). 
At bottom, it's a business. And as someone pointed out above, there are the innovators and then the followers, hoping to cash in on a trend. Which leaves the A&R department (if it exists and isn't an algorithm at Big Data) trying to come up with something that is the same but different. That too was characteristic of the "good old days"---Doug Sahm was cast as a British Invasion rocker to garner radio time, but he wasn't a Brit and was actually pretty talented. 
I think we have all these niches these days, which may be a reflection of the society we live in. I won't use the "diversity" word, because it conjures up the social justice issues now associated with the term, but what I get a big kick out of is young people discovering old stuff for the first time. And for them, it's genre agnostic-- they can go from country, to metal, to jazz, to hip-hop. 
In some ways, that's cool, and contradicts the siloed nature of genre slicing. 
I know with friends that we have overlapping musical tastes like a Venn diagram-- areas where we share an interest and areas where I'm interested and they aren't and vice-versa. The biggest challenge for me in the last 10 or 15 years was to expand my musical horizons beyond my "comfort zone." I still can't get my head around some free jazz---it's just too cacophonous, but I've definitely become more accustomed to, and enjoy music that would have been too out there for me at one time. 

Personally I find most of the music that Frank Zappa did himself to be pretty much noise, which is probably why most people, even if from that "age group" can't tell you even one song he does. Perhaps he is not the best person to judge?

I would trace the beginning of this slide to the mid to late 70's when music really became a big business, which soon led to music being labeled as "corporate rock" (Journey, REO Speedwagon, etc). For me, the final nail in the coffin was the 2016 SXSW Music Festival.

I had attended SXSW every year from 2002 - 2016. Opening night (Wednesday) always featured unknown and/or unsigned artists. From 2002 - 2015, I always made multiple worthwhile discoveries; but, in 2016 every showcase that I attended on Wednesday featured people (I refuse to use the word "artist") that: 1) Could not write a decent song  2) Could not competently play their instruments  3) Could not competently sing their songs.

@bob540, your post makes many valid points and they reminded me of the following lyrical gems:

A) "The world is turning Disney and there's nothing you can do" - THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH (1996).

B) "I am using you, am I amusing you?" - MARTHA & THE MUFFINS (1983) 

@bob540,

Given a choice between Nelly doing Hot in Herre, or Shirley Ellis doing Name Game I will take Hot in Herre any day. How repressed does society need to be for a song like "name game".  I don't pine for that lost era one bit.

Ed Sheeran and Adele are two of the most popular artists today. Are you claiming they are not talented. I can't stand Drake personally but obviously talented, like Eminem whether you like him or not.  The Weekend?  Latin pop? 


With almost no sales of recorded material, just streaming, it is difficult for artists to get started and hone their craft. "Groups" can't hold it together long enough to get good and get their break. I think that is why solo artists dominate now. Even simple societal things like an excess of structured play (even including music lessons) can have negative unintended consequences.