So why's today's music not the same?

Greetings from the Great White North. It’s actually not that cold. I didn’t wear long johns today, and I didn’t lose it. I also haven’t been outdoors, so I could be totally wrong.
I’m on the Twitter machine, and I saw a few people going back and forth about whether today’s music can hold a candle to yesteryear’s. The answer to that is an incontrovertible “nope.”
What I don’t hear much discussion of, though, is why that’s the case.
(What will follow will be one of the economic analyses of music. It seems weird to write about this stuff in such clinical terms, but what we’re dealing with are market conditions as much as anything else. I think I spoke enough English for those of you fortunate enough to not have taken a lot of economics to comprehend.)
I fully understand I could sound like one of those people that years for music like what I listened to when I was a kid. I always swore I’d never be that guy. That said, I haven’t had a desire to turn on FM radio in months. The new records I listen to are by people I listened to in high school and college.
But here’s the thing — I don’t want the music I used to listen to. I’ve never sat around waiting for another OutKast. But I do want someone as creative as Kast, and that’s hard to find.
Then again, there have never been a lot of Kast’s.
We’ve got to be fair. We can’t get mad because this generation doesn’t have a Stevie Wonder. That’s like a baseball fan saying the game isn’t as good because there isn’t a Willie Mays. There wasn’t a Willie Mays before him, either.
Listening to the dusties stations also skews our recollections of the past. We act like every song in the ’70s was as good as the ones they keep playing. Nope. There was a lot of drivel coming out then, too. Some of that drivel was made by people we now think are incredible (yes, I’m talking about you, Aretha Franklin).
That said, it’s hard not to say that today’s music isn’t as good as what came out before it. It’s not because there isn’t as much talent. There’s no reason why the quantity of available talent would decrease, especially as it becomes easier and easier for people to make music.
But if we’re going to say there has been an overall decline in quality, it stands to reason there must be some systemic force behind it. But what’s the force? It’s not like there’s some boogieman orchestrating a conspiracy to make music wack. However, something has happened.
Just what? I’ve got a couple of hypotheses.
1. Here’s the thing about popular music — it’s always been at its best when it reflected the struggles of the underclass in visceral ways. Well, you kinda have to be a member of the underclass to do that.
Well, if you’re in the underclass, how are you exposed to music? Probably in the church. But where do you learn about the deeper, more technical aspects of music?
Really, where?
In a different time, public schools had a greater emphasis on music education. Now, VH1 has to have fundraisers to raise dough for stuff like that. As public schools have become more poorly funded, music education has been cut all over the place.
I believe that would explain quite a bit.
2. The old days were about vocal groups and bands. Today’s a lot more about the one-man band. One man is one perspective, one set of ideas. A band is a drummer thinking like a drummer, a bassist thinking like a bassist, etc. If nothing else, the band allows for the specialization of labor, which makes a lot more sense.
Now, here’s something I’m curious to see. The money in the music game isn’t what it was. Those looking for quick paydays will need to find another hustle, because the labels can’t make but a couple of people rich these days. Once you do that, you weed out a lot of people that make music but don’t particularly love it. You get rid of folks that figure they know the formula and will ride it to the bank, because those people will no longer get what they’re looking for. Could that then increase the level of talent, because the talented and passionate will be a greater proportion of who’s making music?
It could.
Argue away on this one. I’m just throwing some thoughts out there that I’ve had in my head for a long time. Might as well share and get some feedback.