By observation; why crowdsourced recommendations for music suck is that there's no "cost" to being a critic/influencer, and therefore no real effective filter.

By observation; why crowdsourced recommendations for music suck is that there's no "cost" to being a critic/influencer, and therefore no real effective filter. I realized that this is why current hip-hop is so much worse now; it's not (mostly) the artists; its that the "filter" used to be much more ruthless. Fewer opportunities for deals and "difficulty" in being an influence (e.g. DJ gigs, selling tapes from cars, general violence, general censorship etc etc) weeded out every content that wasn't good and every participant that wasn't dedicated.