[Alberta's Child]

I believe the music industry began its inevitable slide into mediocrity after the deregulation of radio and television stations in the 1990s. Now, all the radio stations in this country are owned by a few giant media conglomerates — which explains why all the music sounds the same. Also, these media giants also own record labels as well — and their radio stations are an ideal venue to “self-promote” their own music. That’s why most radio stations play the same crap repeatedly for weeks/months on end.

[kjam22]

Even that would be bad if it weren't for the fact that most of what they play was as you said "crap". It's mostly computer generated, overly compressed and processed, garbage. That's the fundamental problem.

[live+let_live]

Exactly.

The recording industry is now a ‘command economy’. It used to be a free market. And only a free market can efficiently pick out the good from a sea of bad.

The radio stations play what the record companies tell them to play. Case in point: Brooks and Dunn’s album “Hillbilly Delux”. This album had some hits as soon as it was released. But it was out for 6-8 months before the song “Hillbilly Delux” was played and became a hit on radio stations. If it was real the radio stations would have been getting calls to play this song from the get-go. Obviously the recording industry tells the radio stations which songs to play in an effort to make the albums sell over a longer period of months.

In the ‘olden days’, an Elvis or a Loretta Lynn would take a copy of their song to a local radio station. The station would play it and if it was good people would ask for it to be played more. If it was really good other radio stations in other parts of the country would start playing it. This method quickly sends the best songs to the market.

[Riverman94610]

I also trace the decline in musical quality to the steady decline of the American public school systems.
Even in many ghetto schools of forty and fifty years ago,there were many traditional English and Music teachers who taught melody,poetry and the beauty of harmony.I don’t think we’ll ever see another writer of the quality of Smoky Robinson,Tony Hester,Lamont Dozier or Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson to name just a few.
The garbage that comes out of kid’s music now reflects the abysmal educations they are getting.
And don’t get me started on white”rockers”,none of whom could hold a candle to Jerry Lee Lewis,Elvis,Dion or Brian Wilson.