dozens of dullard derivative wannabe copycats who utterly lack the imagination to put out something novel and stimulating. This is true, and describes one of t

dozens of dullard derivative wannabe copycats who utterly lack the imagination to put out something novel and stimulating. This is true, and describes one of the huge failings of the music industry. But there's more. At the same time the record labels are pumping out this dreck, there are plenty of truly fantastic artists that just aren't getting lucky. Even those that make it to what they believe is the holy grail - a record contract - aren't getting a real break because they're hard to find in the rest of the crap. I'm a developer in real life, but a serious photography amateur as a hobby. I happen to have fallen into a lot of music stuff, being the official photographer for an annual musical in my town, and some other stuff. I've developed relationships with a bunch of musicians through this. A few that are clearly a cut above the rest have gotten signed (and I think the labels have shown pretty good judgment at this level). But even of these, I haven't seen anybody break through into real success. One band whose album actually charted recently called it quits because they couldn't sustain it with the day jobs necessary to survive. Another guy quit his job to pursue music full time. But what supports him (and his family) is primarily sales of his paintings, plus a little income from merch and "house concerts". I think that the awfulness of the industry is part of the problem. But it's also that we've got an embarrassment of riches. The ability to make music - and to record it professionally - is within the reach of nearly anyone who has that dream. So it's become too competitive, and the available choices for consumers is too large to cut through the noise effectively. This is where the failures of the industry hit, I think - their business model is geared toward finding the next giant star, rather than serving an incredibly diverse range of tastes, helping each of us find what we'd individually prefer.