Whats done more to kill it has been the perception of it as an industry......units to shift, etc.

I think it was always - even from the days of Mozart and Haydn - a business. I think the musicians and composers were small businessmen.

I think the Beatles changed everything. Fortunes of millions - not necessarily going to the artists. The public schoolboys began to see it as a growth industry. Create a charismatic performer and you can sell mediocre product - just like packaging biscuits - and you can sell by the millions of truckloads globally.

the trouble is - you can fool all the people some of the time. But after a while it becomes obvious that Rod Stewart singing the telephone directory, Pete Waterman, and Simon Cowell have smeared the surface of the world with shite pretty much - well I defy anyone to argue with the fact that its not the standard of quality that Beatles and Sinatra people from the days of small businessmen worked to.

The real sad thing has been seeing the folk world aping the antics of the pop world. Searching for the next big thing - that was a bit like last years next big thing.