Is today’s contemporary music lacking?

I know exactly what you mean.  Its like the people that make movies are the ones that are making music.  Its pure overproduced crap.  I had given up for many years that all good music to be done had already been done.  Then, in the 90's when my son was in High School, he suggested some bands.  He then went onto college and did a talk show that talked about different bands.  Some of the ones that he turned me onto are Radiohead, Noah and the Whale, Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, Avett Brothers, and so forth.  Noah and the Whale album, The First Day of Spring, was the first album I could recall sitting and listening to non-stop in long time.  Before that I believe Pink Floyd The Wall.  Its out there but you aren't going to find it on the radio. 

If by contemporary you mean what you hear on the radio or see on the television, the answer is an emphatic yes.

However, if one diligently seeks out lesser known artists, there is a wealth of good musicians/songwriters to be found. And I consider it a positive thing that they haven't been "discovered".

Just one example. Google The Cordovas. Take a listen to them and you will hear exactly what I'm talking about.  And I would bet dollars to donuts that you've never heard of them.

Oz

Is today's music lacking?

Depends on your personal taste and your sources for music.

I've viewed/read a good many interviews where songwriters point out the difficulty of coming up something that sounds fresh, at this point in history. This suggests that the task is indeed growing more challenging. 

I agree with bdp24-- I've encountered many highly-talented younger musicians and songwriters in the catch-all genre known as Americana. 
There are bountiful riches to be discovered in this genre, if you care to explore it. 

I agree with bdp24-- I've encountered many highly-talented younger musicians and songwriters in the catch-all genre known as Americana.

Most of them are story tellers which goes well in some genre but  is   mostly wasted in R&R. A case in point is Led Zeppelin. I was a fan, a devotee, a protege of sorts of Zep from the the 1st day I heard it. First time is needed to invert your mind to decipher.  Anyway , even though I learned every song drums & vocals, I never understood the lyrics fully. Even though I sang it, I just filled in the parts I didn't know. The crowd didn't notice cause they understood them no better than I did. FWIW, a local radio station did a segment called "Plant or Animal?" Then they would play a scream from a jungle animal and then Robt. Plant. You had to guess...Plant or animal?

I've long thought pop music on long term decline, gave it up a long time ago. Popular, commercial radio has long been pretty much dreck for me, didn't get into audio to listen to that.

I've often thought about how difficult writing music would be, how many ways can one string together a limited number of musical notes and still create something novel and fresh. Will every combination or progression of notes be exhausted at some point? I could easily imagine writing a song and at least parts of it would be an exact duplication of some song that came before.
Still, I very much enjoy much contemporary music, virtually none of it being what one would hear on radio. Many contemporary artists producing novel and fresh music, haven't reached any theoretical limit on songwriting yet.

My take is music genres are ever expanding and evolving. Pop music conformity doesn't allow much evolution, one genre dominates for years until another comes along, and the cycle repeats. Pop music NOT WHERE ITS AT.  Estimations of the general quality of music for any particular era should not use pop music as their reference, I see far too much of this. I thought we were audiophiles, how many of us listen to the pop music I hear so many complaints about.