>
> The cool music subculture was effectively killed by a music industry
> that was more concerned about making deals than making music. Sure,
> the music industry has always been more concerned with making deals
> than making music, but the dollar value of the transactions involved
> got way out of control.
>
> All is not lost though. It turns out that in the process of killing
> the music, the music industry has effectively killed itself. Short
> term gain has trashed the chances of long term survival. (Darwin
> would say that that sucks if you're an evolving species.)
>
> I'll predict that the music industry we've come to know is turning
> into ash, and a whole new music industry is rising from the ashes.
>
> -- Don
>
To that, I'll add that the way the industry has shaped itself by following
trends has led to the near-extinction of artists in favor of
flavor-of-the-year pop stars. The acts these days that have successful
follow-up albums (is that the right word any more?) are virtually
non-existent. The pop music industry is geared so strongly towards youth
and image that the handful of truly creative people don't get the careful
nurturing and fertilization that they usually need, and after a successful
album its usually just cheaper to get a new "artist" from the cookie-cutter
than to put up with the increasing power of an already-used one. I think of
the first few Yes or Genesis or Pink Floyd albums and realize that those
ambitious but not-quite-there efforts would have had those bands ground out
of existence before they hit their strides and released their Foxtrots and
their Fragiles and their Dark Sides.