It started with Napster ~20 yrs ago

Record companies lost control over the product

and the loss of money followed.

Now there is a mountain of garbage that nobody has time to sift through.

Similar to what’s been happening to the US over the last 20 years, further catalyzed by those currently in control.

@pesky_wabbit 

If you were around at the time just before the punk explosion you would have heard that mantra a million times

That was understandable considering just how much had happened in the previous 2 decades - rock and roll, skiffle, folk, protest, beat bands, psychedelia, heavy rock/blues etc.

By the mid 70s popular music seemed to be in a lull and no seemed to no longer have its finger on the teenage pulse.

Prog rock was not for everyone.

Then along came punk, a rehash of early rock and roll and underground US garage bands of the late 60s.

New wave and rap followed as the teenage rebellion continued.

Then all of sudden it seemed to implode once more as musicians seemed to either lose interest in current world affairs or were driven underground once more. 

We now find ourselves in a strange retro zeitgeist, where everything seems a rehash/reinterpretation of something familiar, whilst waiting for the next big thing.

So for fans of popular music, what better thing is there to do than to endlessly explore the rich musical history of the past 60 years or so?

@hilde45

Stop whining, get off your butt and take over anytime you want to. No one's stopping you. Although I think it's funny that when I was growing up the Greatest Generation called Boomers lazy, communist, tree-hugging drug-crazed bums. Now people call Boomers greedy capitalists, etc. etc. Can't win. It's all the boomers fault, the world was perfect before 1950, right?

Anyone up for talking audio now?

Here is an article that was just published on Monday on Yahoo News...

Spotify backlash offers rare insight into reeling music industry - and struggles of working musicians

This might open a few people's eyes to what the music business actually is these days....

Some of us were lucky to come up during a period of incredible artistic creation and I suspect younger people are discovering some of those really special tunes and bands as reflected when the author describes his interaction with a server at the restaurant where older tunes were playing: 

I asked my server: “Why are you playing this old music?” She looked at me in surprise before answering: “Oh, I like these songs.”

The author makes valid points about the current industry roadblocks standing in the way of developing new musical talent.  The good news is that people are still listening to music and that many of us have found ways to discover the good new artists who are out there.