I agree with this. We're in a golden age of access to small and/or unsigned artists who don't need to be in the top 20s to get their name out there any more.

I agree with this. We're in a golden age of access to small and/or unsigned artists who don't need to be in the top 20s to get their name out there any more. I really enjoy exploring different genres of music and finding new albums I've not heard before and devoted subreddits have been my main source of that. For me, r/progmetal is a group of devoted fans who enjoy recommending prog metal artists and albums. Nowadays a band doesn't have to be super famous and have to have a CD in a store in order for me to be able to listen to them. I read a recommendation, fire up spotify and start listening asap.