I disagree. I think that the music isn't good enough and that's why no one is listening to it. I think that because the entire industry fell apart that the spec

I disagree. I think that the music isn't good enough and that's why no one is listening to it. I think that because the entire industry fell apart that the specialization that resulted in the great music of the past has been fractured. The first main issue is that without an functioning ecosystem artists are forced to do everything themselves. When there were profits to be made off of recorded music all sorts of middle-men would take it upon themselves to make money for themselves while generating enough income for people to have music creation be a profession. These days you won't find as many band managers because there isn't very much in the way of profits. This goes for everything else in the ecosystem. Part of this is due to losing the main way that musicians have profited, that is by selling records and by playing live music. Live music has been under assault since the beginning of the recorded music era. By the peak of the recording industry touring music was mainly looked at as a loss leader and were basically seen as just a way to drum up publicity for record sales. Most people did and continue to stay home and listen to recorded music instead of going to live music. At one point in the time the only way to hear music was by being around while it was performed. The god's honest truth is that most intelligent and talented people are going in to other creative industries and contemporary music is suffering. I see more naturally talented musicians writing code than I see playing music and the main reason is because smart people won't work towards a career in an industry that is caught in a death spiral. The tools aren't what matter. Music made with little training, experience, and passion is still shitty music even if it has sonic characteristics that were incredibly expensive just 20 years ago. Good music is intelligent and aware of it's purpose. Good music is carefully constructed and performed with trained expression. Good music communicates intent and satisfies the needs of an audience. The amateurs are not good enough for the public and so the public is ignoring them and instead listening to the professional music of the very recent past that still has a message and form that continues to make sense. Pretty soon society will move far enough from this era that new stories and new modes of expression will be demanded and a new crop of artists will be happy to supply it. Hopefully a viable economic ecosystem will support their efforts.