Why Bad Music is the Most Popular — Is the Consumer or the Industry to Blame?
The short answer, like most things in life, is it’s both. Let’s elaborate: The industry is probably more responsible, but the audience is the core of the problem.
My theory (which saddens my soul) is that the vast majority of music consumers just don’t care, and can’t really tell the difference between quality music and crap. I’m not trying to decide what genre or type of music should appeal to people. Everybody is entitled to feeling pull towards different types of music. Hell, I love music of all different influence. However, it’s not opinion but fact that within each genre, there is an atmosphere of music derived from talent, originality, and meaning, and there is another of commoditized, simplified, and overdone songs made for an unmindful listener.
Almost everyone is a consumer of music. Obviously each person lays in a spectrum anywhere from passively listening in a department store (do those still exist?) to spending hours everyday listening/creating/thinking about music. While I lean towards the latter, I completely understand not everyone needs to be that passionate about music. We aren’t all allocating excess time to seek out the “best of” in spaces that we don’t care that much about either. It’s like food: There are clearly many high quality options of food, yet the most consumed is the most accessible. The people that care what they eat spend the extra time, money, and energy to find the high quality options. It’s not to say that most people wouldn’t enjoy better everything, but until it’s convenient, the masses will remain unaware.
“The second is someone who honestly couldn’t tell you if Justin Bieber or Bob Dylan is the better songwriter after listening to both.”
When it comes to music fans there’s nature and nurture. Some people grow up in musical households, where discovering and listening to great music is prioritized. These people tend to have a strong appreciation for good music and a will to continue to find it. Some people are just born with music in their soul and digging past just what’s on the radio is a predestined part of their journey. Now for the majority who are just unaware it exists and aren’t inherently going to find it, we have two categories: The first is someone who would absolutely be a fan of the less-commercialized greats, if they were just exposed to the music. The second is someone who honestly couldn’t tell you if Justin Bieber or Bob Dylan is the better songwriter after listening to both.
I can’t fault the audience though. I mean I certainly wish humans were naturally more curious about everything and sought out to discover all of the available information on all subjects. Unfortunately we tend to take what we’re given and we perceive it as fact. That’s just mankind. None of us are exempt from this notion. Guaranteed there are better quality versions of 99% of the products you use daily. Like unless you’re a hot sauce fanatic, your favorite hot sauce is probably laughable to a real hot sauce fan. (Sorry I keep using food references; I think I’m hungry).
“where despite the fact that the majority of our population is inadequately informed about most issues, everyone is miraculously unwavering in their opinions about what and who is the solution”
Music is one of those weird things though, where even though most people are overwhelming ignorant to what’s out there, they are positive about what they love. It’s like politics (see not food), where despite the fact that the majority of our population is inadequately informed about most issues, everyone is miraculously unwavering in their opinions about what and who is the solution. Being positive about what the best international economic policy should be when you haven’t even figured out how to pay your own credit card bill on time, is like saying so&so is the best artist when you only consume music from pop radio. I’m not sure if so&so is an actual artist, but just to be clear I meant it as an ambiguous noun.
Soooo in comes the industry. It’s business 101. Crap is easier to mass produce and distribute than quality. “Oh a billion+ person market for something people are passionate about but the majority can’t tell the difference between good and bad?” “PERFECT!” Even great artists whose successes are inevitable, need to break through. Music is content, and the distribution of content will always be as or more important than the creation when it comes to commercializing. It all makes sense why not too long ago popular music became synonymous with shitty music. The dawn of modern technology allowed the distribution of music to become highly scalable, but the tech was only accessible to few. This allowed a small circle, in the “industry” to have an abundant amount of control on what music was most reachable. Once the big-business people realized that the majority of listeners would still respond positively to and be exorbitantly passionate about shitty music, that was it… It was going to be much easier to create a production line of simple hand-me-down melodies, and have what I assume is a 4th grader write dumbed-down lyrics for a semi-talented, yet above-averagely attractive kid who would lyp-sinc over a pre-recorded track. Not to mention how much easier it is to monetize a willing-to-do-anything-to-be-famous 18 year old over dealing with 6 artistic egomaniacs making up a rock band. So the industry said, “seems like the audience is cool with this, let’s go ahead and make some money.” And that’s just what those old boring white dudes did.
Now I’m not pitching a solution here. This is just an observation piece. However, I think we’ve passed the worst of it and it is getting better. Clearly it’s about the gatekeepers deciding to put merited song writing in the mainstream outlets. But now with more direct accessibility to the market than ever before, bands and artists have a chance to reach people and avoid the outdated middleman. You can see in just the last 5 years some of the quality changes. Better artists appearing at mainstream events like the Grammys, hardcore anti bro-country movements, and hip hop fans being able to create buzz for under-the-radar artist who really crush it. Even the quality of pop-radio has increased in my opinion. At least now most artists can sing, play, and write; something I’m not sure could be said not too long ago. Progress.
“Will the most merited musicians overtake the most accessible listening outlets, even if the majority of the market has no demand for it?”
We now know that the majority of the market is fickle and willing to accept mediocre as great. As I mentioned, I understand this, and the need for all different types of music. I do think it’s sad for genius artists to struggle when industry peers with a fraction of the talent are thriving. When you’re dealing with the same talent pool, popularity in music is still about timing, and perception, and luck, so I get that writing the best songs alone won’t make them reign supreme. I guess the question is: Will the most merited musicians overtake the most accessible listening outlets, even if the majority of the market has no demand for it? Would I like to live a world where everyone could distinguish good music from cheesy music? Yes. But, I have to look at the positives of this reality. There are pros to being part of a passionate minority:
- Being able to be in an intimate dive bar with 45 other people watching a band/artist that has 50X the talent of whoever just played to 20,000+ at the near-by stadium.
- The feeling of kinship when you see someone wearing your “low-key” favorite band’s t-shirt, who you now instantly like more than most of your close friends.
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