> What happned that we still have a similar duperstar culture than 20 years ago? Perhaps idols have network effects. Do most people actually want independent

> What happned that we still have a similar duperstar culture than 20 years ago? Perhaps idols have network effects. Do most people actually want independent structures? They're available to use if you do (see: bandcamp). I assert most people would prefer a musical common knowledge (even if banal) over more interesting yet isolating music. In a sense, musical isolation outside the mainstream has gotten worse over time, as the internet has made it easier to follow your aesthetic judgments into deeper and more disparate rabbit holes. The idea of a subculture seemed a happy medium, but these have mostly become "atomized" out of existence. There does still exist an "indie" alternate-mainstream, along with a few others, but for the more engaged music fan it's somewhat of a lonely world. Hopefully the pendulum will soon begin to swing back toward shared experience and music creation as a means toward community-building (see: prayer), rather than as an end in itself.