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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nCommon \u2013 Gael. The White Stripes \u2013 The Hives. Beck \u2013 REC.\n\nIf you\u2019ve heard of any of these artists, chances are it\u2019s the first of each pair. And while there are many varied reasons why that might be the case \u2013 from forces both internal & external, subjective & objective \u2013 there\u2019s one MAIN reason that all of them share.\n\nCommerce, politics, and even social constructs all run by majority rules. The more popular and profitable something is, the more popularity and profit it amasses. The bigger something is, the bigger it gets. There\u2019s very little concession made or attention given to those things and people who control and consume a smaller piece of the various pies.\n\nIn music, this rule \u2013 which I call \u201cthe tyranny of the many\u201d \u2013 manifests in a couple of ways. The most obvious is that artists who aren\u2019t as popular and don\u2019t have as much money/power to determine their own destinies have always naturally been lesser known, obscure, even completely unknown. The other is that bands whose careers did once skyrocket to fame often end up toiling the rest of their careers in relative obscurity, paid attention to by only the most loyal fans. The result in each case is that attention and resources are distributed so wildly unevenly, that the artists who make money and headlines are awarded more of both, and the artists who don\u2019t have to struggle for every penny and every scrap of recognition.\n\nSo whose fault is this? EVERYONE\u2019S. We\u2019re all guilty. The music companies. The streaming services & radio stations. The distributors. The advertisers. The media. And yes, the fans. We all discriminate \u2013 sometimes deliberately, more often without even knowing it. We\u2019re all lazy and scared. We cling to the safe and comfortable, and assume anything outside of that bubble is in some way worse and in all ways not worth our time, attention, or dollars.\n\nAnd it\u2019s no conspiracy. It\u2019s happening openly and in plain sight. Companies & streaming services & distributors & advertisers deliberately choose to dedicate disproportionate resources to the already successful, or acts who are enough like the already successful to cash in on a trend. Why wouldn\u2019t they? It makes them easy money \u2013 though not as much as they could be making if their resources were more evenly distributed. The media choose to cover the hot artists to the almost complete exclusion of anyone else. And why wouldn\u2019t THEY? We the fans get excited by big things, big news, big successes, so we gobble up both the articles & reviews & posts & content all these power players spit out. We rarely complain. There\u2019s no reason for them to change tactics because we all tacitly agree that it\u2019s the way things should be \u2013 either by cooperation or silence.\n\nYes, there are exceptions to all of these. There are smaller entities in each category who champion the obscure, who try to shine bright lights on artists who deserve more attention, who put as much money & power behind that push as they possibly can. And there are tons of fans who actively seek out lesser known artists, who bounce out of algorithmically crafted playlists to hear what else is out there. Who consciously or not are bored of the sameness the power players present us.\n\n...\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices