Hmmm. I guess before we really can answer the question, we have to determine if the music industry really is dying. Guest CS seems to feel it's doing as well as ever. Yet, people I know who work within the industry have been complaining of the mass layoffs that have been going on for the last 10 years. Whether that reflects changes in the 'sharing of the wealth' or a decline of the industry....I'm not sure. My guess is that it's a bit of both and the music industry really isn't doing all that well.

Assuming it is self destructing......I really don't think it has anything to do with quality. Every musical era had a high proportion of crap. And a few gems. I agree with ChordChucker...there really is some great stuff, even profound, and once in awhile, by chance, something that's really good also becomes commercially successful.

The comments about the crap coming out of the music industry I've heard all my life. I don't think anything really changes in that respect.

But I agree with Stringsinger:   ASCAP and BMI have not helped live music...not just in the clubs, but anywhere. And I argue it hasn't helped recorded music either....back to my old point about people being pressured to record their own 2nd rate songs instead of searching for the gems. But it's become too expensive (especially in Canada) for anybody to record somebody else's song that's registered with ASCAP, CAPAC, BMI, etc.   So you get a glut of songs that sound like every other song. And it's overwhelming. So much easier to play computer games or type messages on the mudcat forum then it is to listen to another cd or song someone loaded onto facebook.

And Josepp: Who really knows when Justin Bieber might someday lead to? Nobody can predict the future.

Mr. Bieber certainly isn't my cup of tea (now Lady Gaga....maybe), but it would be fascinating to try understand exactly what it is about him that "speaks" to some people.   And why other seemingly similar phenomena didn't speak so strongly and, hence, nobody's heard of them. (I can't give examples of any of them, because I never heard of them).