On the "by committee" part, I would agree. We faced the same thing in country music, till first O Brother, then the Muzik Mafia came along and turned this town (Nashville) on its head.
I think there should be a new sociological theorem: All good things eventually get co-opted by corporations, complacency sets in, causing a new revolution to supplant the good thing that has now become "corporate". This is especially true in music.
But even "corporate" music can be good. Journey was considered corporate junk by critics, but by any objective criteria they were quite a good band (especially Schonn and Perry). Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" is a very well written song.
But I'll agree, for the most part, contrived corporate music is pretty lame.
It's kind of touchy for me, because a few months ago, I watched "Lost Highway" on CMT. It was billed as the definitive history of country music. Unfortunately, the Nashville establishment was always protrayed as "the bad guys", and they missed whole eras of great music because they focused only on "outlaws". They totally missed "The Nashville Sound", Chet Adkins, the many productions of Buddy Killen.
Anyway, I digress.
Let me also say that I had always dismissed Christian rap as unlistenable - until I heard Kirk Franklin's "revolution" That really rocked my world.
"I think there should be a new sociological theorem: All good things eventually get co-opted by corporations, complacency sets in, causing a new revolution to supplant the good thing that has now become "corporate". This is especially true in music."
Yep. America instituted the Industrial Revolution into its soul to the extent that there is almost nothing which cannot be turned into a commodity. But it's two sides of the same coin -- both good and bad.
I agree, it does take some inertia to get over the complacency and the pure profit motive. There's nothing wrong with profit, but if that's the only reason you are interested in music then there won't be any heart in what's produced.
The old bands from the 80's, like the Eagles, were good examples of musicians that grew together up in the music business and sang songs about life, songs about being on the road and finding out whether they had the determination to stick with it. Billy Joel's first couple of albums were his best, where he sang from his heart and about what all he had gone through to become successful. That's not the same as a record company finding an 18-yr old with marginal talent and a pretty face and making them a star. There's definitely alot of talented musicians out there these days but some of them don't get the promotion or airplay. The internet has helped diversify the standard music fare which is available today and will continue to do so.