Deregulation Makes Discoverability Difficult

 In the world of music, especially since the 1950s, the radio has been the #1 tool for people to discover new acts.  When "rock n roll" first started, DJs of local stations became celebrities.  The "payola" scandal referenced in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" was when record companies basically bribed DJs to play their songs.

A couple months ago on Facebook, my former Gather buddy Chas Andrews reposted this thread about music in the 90s.  It talks about how music in the mid-to-late 90s suddenly changed from grunge and alternative to sunny pop like the Spice Girls, Hanson, and the Backstreet Boys.  Part of it might just be tastes changing, but there was something more insidious this thread talks about, a kind of corporate payola.

There was a lot of deregulation in the 80s that continued into the 90s, allowing a lot of mergers.  Sometimes it seemed every month the banks would change their names as they got bought up by another bank chain.  Part of the merger mania was that regulations for owning radio stations were loosened.  As the thread mentions, Clear Channel bought up a bunch of radio stations in the mid-90s and I'm sure other big companies did the same.

What that means is that you have all these stations under one banner.  And so you have one company deciding what music people should be listening to on the radio.  If they decide to push "MmmBop" or "Mambo #5" or some other crap like that, that's what a lot of people will hear on the radio.  It mostly eliminates the autonomy of local DJs to play unknown groups or local acts.

There is still this corporate control today in radio and TV, which can create problems when for instance the Sinclair group of TV stations hands down an edict not to do any negative stories about Donald Trump.  

Since Sirius and XM merged a while ago, there's that same problem with most satellite radio too.  There might be 500 stations, but it is really one company in charge of those stations.  They get to decide what to push and what not to push.

Apps like Pandora let you have more control, but a lot of people are probably not going to put the work in to really find much new music.  It's always easier to just bring up a playlist someone else made or turn on a premade station than to fine-tune things yourself.  Though personally, I like finding lesser-known artists like Josh Joplin, Drew Blackard, or Sons of Bill.  Or even "discovering" better-known artists like John Prine whose music I would not have heard on a normal radio station, unless maybe I listened to country.  It can be difficult to find those hidden gems and people are lazy.

This can of course relate to writing.  The "Big 5" have long been gatekeepers of the industry.  They usually get to push what they think you want to read.  In the last 10 years there have been times when they get subverted by an indie book like 50 Shades of Grey, though they're usually quick to assimilate that author and add their distinctiveness to their own.  

Like music, you can find great indie authors and books, but most people are not going to put the work in.  Not even me.  I read indie books by people I know, but I rarely have inclination or need to go looking for others.  For most of us who aren't getting the push from the gatekeepers, discoverability remains the biggest problem and the fewer gatekeepers you have, the harder it gets.