Pete, I think there's an important point between the lines of your posting. We seem to want it both ways -- we want the quality that comes with small-scale production, but the ease of access that comes with big corporate production/distribution networks. We're free to want both, but I don't think we'll get both. My choice, and I think the choice of a lot of poeple on this forum, is to expend the extra effort to seek out the good stuff -- whether on recordings (many of which are independently produced and distributed), on the radio (often the lower-powered stations at the far end of the dial), or live (comparatively sparsely-attended and poorly promoted performances). Connecting with other like-minded folks on forums like this is a way to learn where the good stuff can be found. I'm happy to let the big corporations continue peddling crap to those folks who want it; it has nothing to do with me.