Mainstream Music Rut

Music is a daily part of our lives - even if we don't choose it.
For a long time I've had the thought that "mainstream media creates mainstream music".
In my Entertainment Industry SEE 2030 class in January, one of the points we discussed was just that.

Let me see if I can type out an understandable way to grasp what my thoughts are:
Today's music world is a cycle that perpetuates the "hits" that listeners hear. Because the radio plays the same 15 songs everyday (ok so there's a few more than that in actuality), all the listeners know are those songs and thus they request the same 15 songs which perpetuates their success and status as a "hit".

The power point, based off information from the textbook's chapter 7, states that "Record label uses relationships (and muscle) to generate radio airplay for bands it represents - helping to keep...independent labels from gaining airtime." (slide 11 - Professor Longo)

My point is that you think that by listening to the song you're up with the times and it's a hit, however, you simply are being subjected to what the labels, and I'll say radio stations, want you to hear, and you don't truly have a say in the matter. They play the songs they want to be hits enough that you start to like them. They say it's a hit so you check it out and believe it's a hit, not because it's good music, but because it's all that's being played. Then you request it because you can't get it out of your head since you hear it 8 times a day on every radio station you switch between and now its "hit-ness" is being "proven" because it is being requested and viewed on YouTube. There-with-in is the rut.

A true music enthusiast must seek out and dig through the muck of today's "mainstream" in order to truly find music. One cannot expect to simply listen to the radio and have inspired combinations of lyrics and notes and rhythms strike their hearts. Rather, there are basic notes and common words that simply travel through their ears.

My all time favorite music quote comes from an author of books, not music:
"He would have expected music to reach him through his ears, but this song didn't bother with the detour. It seemed to reach right through his chest and squeeze his heart. Love and hope and sorrow and laughter all rolled up in one" (pg. 68 The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker).

When was the last time a song skipped your ears and truly 'squeezed your heart'? This is when a song truly is a musical hit.

Welcome

Recently I began attendance at Johnson & Wales University's Charlotte, North Carolina campus.
Although while earning my Associates Degree I was seeing many things from class being applicable to my work environment, it wasn't until December 2012 when one of my Professors at JWU talked about starting a "professional blog" where I apply things I learn in class to my industry and the "real world".

That is what "Sports, Entertainment, and Events Observations" blog is about.

I will appreciate other industry professionals' input, otherwise, I hope perhaps my realizations will help and add to others' perspective and knowledge.

Cheers!