It’s not surprising pop dominates.

It is surprising it’s marginalized everything else.

You’ve got to go back to MTV. It was a rock world. Disco made inroads but in a racist, homophobic uprising rock fans killed it. And then Bob Pittman and his minions declared MTV an AOR outlet. That’s “Album Oriented Rock” for the great unwashed. A misnomer in that the tracks CAME from albums, but stations no longer went deep.

MTV minted new stars. Most famously Duran Duran and Culture Club, which AOR refused to play. As a result, Top Forty stations appeared on the FM dial to fill this gap. This was a revelation, prior to the early eighties Top Forty was an AM dungeon where only the most uniformed went to listen. KROQ, a marginal outlet in Pasadena, broke trend by playing this newfangled music, AOR started to crumble, and then came Michael Jackson.

MJ broke the color line. And after the success of “Thriller,” he called himself “The King Of Pop.”

Notice, not “rock,” not “soul,” but a word dreaded in the heart of every white boy American music aficionado.

But there was a reprieve. Although Michael infiltrated the playlist and other non-white performers followed him, KROQ took MTV hostage. Andy Schuon left Pasadena for New York, he decided what got on. And as a result, we had the great alternative wave, of not only REM, but ultimately Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

But rap gained a toehold. And expensive, effects-laden videos triumphed. And rockers blinked. They didn’t like sacrificing all this power to the director, spending all that money and looking like a doofus all at the same time. That’s when the good-looking nonentity took over. That’s when pop started to triumph.

But radio still mattered and records were expensive to make so other scenes still existed, other radio formats still mattered, pop was something, but it wasn’t everything.

It is today.

And we did not foresee this.

We thought there was room for everybody. That by opening the floodgates the big tent would be populated with a cornucopia of sounds.

But the truth is none of the rock acts that dominated MTV in the eighties can get any traction. Tom Petty and Don Henley can put out new music, but no matter how good, it ultimately stalls. And it’s not much different for those who came thereafter, like Metallica and Pearl Jam. Their audience still comes out in prodigious numbers to hear the classics live, and that’s seemingly all they want to hear, but their cultural impact has not only waned, but disappeared.

What happened?

The audience got younger, it had no reference points. Everything that meant something to both older listeners and the business not only didn’t matter, it was unknown! Credibility, writing your own material, having chops… That was from a different era. Now you can fake it. And when you can fake it, ear candy is everything.

Which brings us to today.

Like I said, pop started to dominate with Michael Jackson. But now, if you’re not on Top Forty radio, you’ve got no chance. You can garner a marginal audience, be on Patreon, sell merch on Pledge, but you just cannot break through.

We think we want choice, but we don’t.

That’s the story of today. One Amazon is enough. One Google too. Microsoft spent billions on Bing! and the only market share it got was paid for. We only have ears for hits, and the young audience that spends, that goes to the show, that builds acts, wants community, a club they can belong to, and today that’s pop.

Even better, anybody can play. You too can win the lottery. Whether on TV, with “Idol” or “The Voice,” or in your home studio utilizing Pro Tools to upload the end product to YouTube so you can gain notice and hopefully money. People go where the money is, and that’s pop.

And the oldsters can’t understand.

Oldsters remember when the Beatles and rock KILLED Top Forty, they believe music must be not only ear-pleasing, but meaningful. How can this be?

It could be something else. Doesn’t have to be the pop music on today’s chart. It’s just that the pop music delivers mass appeal in a way other genres don’t. Jazz is a joke and rock is moribund. Who wants to hear imitations of the real thing? Better to go back to the originals. As for meaning and credibility, we’ve got hip-hop, however long in the tooth that might be, and its most successful acts have gone Top Forty. And country still exists, but everybody in the format laments that not only is it Bro, it’s got elements of pop, the rapping, the sounds, Florida Georgia Line is just one step away from Top Forty. And the biggest country act gave up the ghost, threw away the banjo and went pop completely, and Taylor Swift only got bigger, turns out she didn’t need Nashville whatsoever.

She got it. She knew using Max Martin and singing anthems is more important than plumbing the soul and revealing one’s warts. She used to do that when she wore cowboy boots, but she’s taking no risk in today’s pop world.

It’s not going to get better. The landscape is not going to broaden. You can make it, but they probably won’t hear it. Pop is everything, because the market demands it. It whittles down choices and delivers what people want to hear.

Like I said, eventually they’ll want to hear something else.

Then again, every few years a trend used to come along to wipe the deck clean. Hair bands were replaced by alternative bands and then hip-hop killed them both.

Nothing new is on the horizon. We’re in a period of consolidation. We’ve only just figured out distribution, for ten years we were worried music was gonna be free.

But when the monetization becomes obvious, new forces will come along to dethrone what presently exists. But that hasn’t happened for fifteen years, which is how music lost its relevancy.

But not in cultural forecasting. This is what’s happening everywhere. Only a few movies succeed, never mind apps. This is our future. The big will get bigger, and if the small exists at all, most people will never see it.

“Bedlam Erupts In House Floor Standoff Over Gun Control”

Looks a lot like Napster, dontcha think?

Oh, the history of that file-trading service has been rewritten. Almost two decades later it’s seen as techies running roughshod over institutions, a free for all with free music for everybody. But the truth is its success was evidence of the public’s hunger for change, a populace sick of twenty dollar CDs with one good song and the inability to hear so much of what they wanted to without paying a toll.

And now the Democrats in the House are revolting.

It was a long time in coming, but the truth is Trump and Bernie scared them, proved that if you’re an insider doing business as usual your reign is time-stamped, Either stand for something or you stand for nothing at all.

Kind of like the musicians of the sixties. This is what it was like.

We emerged from a period of relative calm, back then it was the fifties, now it’s the nineties. And suddenly the seams started to crack and truths were revealed. Youngsters questioned precepts and then not only was everybody smoking dope and having sex willy-nilly, they were against the Vietnam war.

And there was chaos in the marketplace. Not only did the younger generation wipe the slate clean of Perry Como and his ilk, the heroes of yesteryear, of the establishment, the bland, safe pop music was thrown overboard too. It was all new, all the time. Almost no one before the Beatles survived after the Beatles. And there was a migration from AM to FM and Woodstock showed how strong our nation was…

And we’ve been coasting on fumes ever since.

Who knew that politics was gonna be the music of the teens?

Tech is dead. You don’t need a new phone and the new apps provide services that might be convenient, might provide titillation and distraction, but despite their ubiquity their necessity is almost nil.

But when it comes to the government…

They tell us in elementary school to believe, to trust, that anyone can become President. And then some fake barely a billionaire bozo wins the nomination and you reflect that it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

But that was after they stole your safety net and paid fealty to the rich and pulled up your supposed ladder to the top. The populace is unhappy, on the left and the right. You see their opportunity has been stolen. And they want change.

Which the Republicans don’t want. They’d rather go on a death march. Not only did they lose control of their own nominating process by being beholden to the rich and only paying lip service to the poor, they don’t understand their basic tenets are wrong. Their constituency wants not only Obamacare, but Medicare and Social Security. Republican rank and file want abortion rights and gun control. Check the statistics. But the elected officials who are supposed to represent the electorate can’t go against the NRA and the religious right, they’ve got no cojones, despite their bluster.

And the left wing Democrats have been squealing about bullies on the playground for decades, and their constituency has had enough. Not only have they given up on the working man, stood idly by while unions were eviscerated, they have refused to stand up to the Republicans whatsoever, complaining about their behavior and doing nothing about it.

Until tonight, oh, what a night.

THEY BROKE THE RULES!

Just like Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. He who refuses to stand up for what’s right, despite regulation, is destined to be overthrown.

They utilized Periscope! U2 takes cash from Meerkat when we already knew that service would be overtaken, and these anything but hip legislators who Bono thinks he has influence over but does not leapfrog the entire entertainment business and employ the streaming service in its best application ever.

I know what’s gonna happen.

We’re not gonna return to business as usual. Everybody’s too afraid. Except for the Republicans, who cannot see that by refusing to even evaluate a new Supreme Court Justice they’re just burying their chances, alienating their core. When you do nothing, you’re history.

Just ask the record labels, who’ve lost half of their recorded revenue. They could have made a deal with Napster, but NO, they’d rather teach the upstarts a lesson and lose in the process. And too many with a voice in the music sphere are on the wrong side of the issues. The youngsters use the new tools, they don’t bitch about them. If you’re not making a ton of money from streaming you’re not a hit act, sorry.

But these same youngsters grew up in an era of Mariah Carey and TRL. They never had to worry about getting their asses shot off in Nam. They think it’s all about brand and fans and cash. WRONG! It’s about the work. We’re drawn to the flame of those who testify, who lay down their truth. But there’s little truth in evidence. All we get is old farts like Tom Morello and Chuck D. making execrable music, despite their hearts being in the right place.

No, the revolution is gonna come from the young. But they idolize the moneygrubbers of the CD era, the Tommy Mottolas, they’ve got no heroes.

But now they do. A bunch of renegade representatives who know that doing what’s right is more important than maintaining decorum.

The wheels of change turn slowly. But when there’s no movement, we get frustrated, we flip out, it’s like having a dad who never lets you drive the car, who always tells you to turn down the tunes, who never gives you a break. We get sick of hearing no.

And we’re sick of mass shootings. The problem cannot be eradicated, but something can be done.

That’s what the public thinks. Forget the blowhards at Fox News and the NRA who are working the refs. The people, who control this country, who truly own it, want safety and change.

And it’s happening right now.

A bill might not be passed but business as usual is over. It will never be the same in Washington again.

The same way it was never the same after Napster.

And the Beatles.

And niche is nowhere.

Ever since that misguided book “The Long Tail” came out everyone with a keyboard believes they’re entitled to an audience and compensation online. This is patently untrue. Ironically, as more people got access, broadband prospered and mobile reigned the scene started to resemble our nation at large, one of haves and have-nots, of income inequality, of winners and losers, but the great unwashed refuse to believe this.

Like those starting podcasts.

Just because you can do it doesn’t mean anybody wants to listen to it. And Malcolm Gladwell enters the fray years late and goes directly to the top of the chart. That’s the power of name recognition, career accomplishment and talent. When few were podcasting you had a chance. Now, fuggetaboutit.

Why is it everybody gloms on when a medium becomes mature, when the experts know the game is all about the bleeding edge, being first, testing limits, planting your flag on an outpost. But that’s damn hard to do, you have to have confidence, talent and insight. And perseverance. That’s the dirty little secret, most people give up, sooner rather than later.

We see this great inequality, the gap between losers and winners, in the tech infrastructure. There’s only ONE Facebook. And there are a couple of other social networks with traction, Instagram and Snapchat. If you’re trying to compete odds are long, very long. Apple failed twice, with Ping and Connect.

And in mobile operating systems there’s Android and iOS. BlackBerry is moribund and despite the marketing power of Microsoft, Windows cannot compete.

So, if they can’t win, what are the odds you can?

Which is why you’re making so little despite your tunes being on Spotify, YouTube even. Sure, you have 10,000 views, which seems significant to you, but there are unknown acts with 50 million, truly, they just haven’t blown up yet, most of the world is an untapped market.

You see the public wants to belong, be a member of the group, have something to talk about, and those in the music sphere seem categorically unable to accept this, if they acknowledge it at all. People like hits. They want to listen to what everybody else does. They want to be members of a community. They want to go to the show en masse and celebrate.

Do not equate the modern era with the pre-internet one. In the twentieth century five thousand albums were released a year. Just getting a record deal was a near-impossibility. Most people could not play in the game at all. And those that did had a leg up. They got publicity and some airplay and word of mouth was available, there were few competing projects. So when you were niche in the seventies or eighties or even nineties, you really weren’t. You were already an exclusive club member. People knew who you were. You could play clubs, supported by your label. Fans championed you and supported you, but not as much as your record company, which footed the bill before either hitting the jackpot or giving up.

But today the scene is incomprehensible. There’s just too much out there. And labels are businesses, they want to make money. And they can only do this by reaching mass. And mirroring income inequality they’re only interested in that which can truly break through, rain down coin, the middle is anathema. Just ask the movie business, where you can’t get a comedy or adult drama funded. But, you tell them, you can make it for under ten mil, bunts instead of home runs. But home runs score and bunts do not. And with overhead, marketing expenses and opportunity cost, it doesn’t pay to do anything but swing for the fences.

That’s on the side of production.

On the side of consumption…

The public leans toward that which is anointed. Which is what the Grammy bounce is all about. Hell, “Hamilton” just shot up the chart after winning all those Tonys. The music on the album didn’t change, but people’s awareness of it did.

Which is why all these streaming music services will not survive. Because, like bands, mass is where it’s at. People want to be where everybody else is. How do you even share a song on Apple Music? If you’re on Tidal? Can you send it to someone who doesn’t subscribe?

There’s only one Amazon, one trustworthy retailer, which expanded into new territories, kind of like Spotify, which now has podcasts and video.

But Spotify’s model of endless playlists is b.s. The whole playlist canard is b.s. Because it doesn’t serve the customer. The customer wants trusted curation of that which everybody is paying attention to. We don’t only want great, we want great that everybody else is listening to. When all the acts on the playlist are unknown to you, you don’t even bother listening. You feel like you’re wasting your time. Even if you found something you liked you feel no one else would have ever heard of it. But if everybody’s listening to the same playlist, then you know you have a starting point.

I know, I know, this is everything you hate about the old system. But gatekeepers don’t only exact tolls, they keep order, they deliver comprehension, which the public greatly needs.

So don’t tell me about your personal playlist. Or the obscure one you listen to. Doesn’t float my boat, doesn’t satisfy my urges. I need community, something today’s music services do a piss-poor job of providing. Spotify would be better off resembling KROQ more than a record store. Build culture and belief, narrow it down for us.

But, like “The Long Tail,” streaming services have it all wrong, they’re too busy being everything to everybody and satisfying few in the process.

And hustlers muddy the water trying to gain attention for what they’re selling even though no one cares.

Mass adds definition. Look at the Kardashians. Everybody knows who they are. Some love ’em, some hate ’em, others are indifferent. But if you come to my house we can argue about them. We can’t argue about most bands.

But the Kardashians know you gain traction and hammer the message. And the family had the same damn members before they were on TV. And Kim was just a pale imitation of Paris Hilton.

But isn’t it funny we rarely hear about Paris anymore. We don’t need her if we have Kim.

We don’t need you if we’ve got Zeppelin and Bieber.

But at least Bieber and Drake, who releases a mixtape seemingly every time the seasons change, get the new paradigm. That it’s about being constantly in the public eye, with new product, that you don’t rest on your laurels, you keep creating.

Are you a winner or a loser?

First, check your field. If you can’t be at the top, you’re not gonna make it on the internet.

But if you’ve got a shot, utilize the tools. Don’t scream at streaming services, embrace them. Go where everybody else is.

That’s what the public wants.

Radio is killing the music business.

Alta kachers and record labels pay fealty to this antiquated medium to their detriment. In an on demand society where the playlist is king the business keeps focusing on getting airplay and there are not enough slots and not enough people listening. It’s like they’re coal miners fighting for market share in a world that’s become about natural gas, solar and wind.

The revolution has happened. It’s just that those with power refuse to acknowledge it. Sales are a dead metric, like counting the number of landlines in a mobile world, it’s all about streams. But how do you get people to stream if they don’t know what playlist to check out?

Paul Simon put out a new album. Reviews say it’s good, I haven’t listened to it. Where do I start?

Same deal with Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch.

The acts make LPs in a singles world, get traditional publicity in an online social world, and then they blame the system when their new projects gain no traction.

Used to be we tuned into the same radio stations.

Then we all tuned into MTV.

These outlets pruned the wares, they told us what to listen to, they gave us clarity in the face of chaos.

But now there’s even chaos in the playlist world!

We need fewer playlists.

But even more, we need a handful of targeted playlists, that would allow listeners to check out new music.

That’s right, the baby boomers, who are active consumers…where’s their one playlist with the best new work of the old and the work of the new they should be aware of? I’d listen to it, you would too. Instead, the whole scene has been hijacked by non-comm stations who believe they’re arbiters of quality, but are really gatekeepers of the graveyard. Yes, these stations have some active listeners, but they’re a zit on the ass of the total populace. And, at best, they feed us track by track over a period of years whereas an act might have a few good cuts worth listening to all at once.

So…

Spotify. This is your job. Apple Music is moribund, a vehicle for the industry to complain that someone moved their cheese. And YouTube is for youngsters and it’s about subscriptions, not playlists, so…

The Swedish outlet has to lead. Has to create one playlist for old people with the best new stuff. To give not only Paul Simon and Tom Petty a chance, but Neil Young too, who’s been bitching on Marc Maron’s WTF.

Right there on the homepage. A veritable radio playlist, only this time it’s on demand, on a streaming service, and you can scroll through and sample and discover.

Sure, Discover Weekly is good, but those playlists are too personalized. They can’t break an act. We crave community, and the streaming services have done a piss-poor job of giving it to us. But this could change, and benefit everyone, acts and listeners alike.

Then again, oldsters hate streaming. But that’s the only way to get paid for recordings! And the more acts promote it the more listeners will clamor for it.

So, create an Adult Playlist.

Sure, I could comb through Spotify and see which of the Simon and Mudcrutch tracks got the most spins, but that’s way too much work in an overwhelming world. Can’t you get a curator, like a programmer of yore, to cull the best and serve it up?

It’s the job of Spotify to break acts now. Radio’s the last hurrah, even in pop. It’s time for the streaming service to step up.