Many artists and bands I grew up on, who played an integral role in my musical education, would not be given similar opportunities in today’s music industry.

Technology, and the internet in particular, have forever disrupted the music industry, but there’s something to be said about the homogeneity of mass-marketed music.

A considerable amount of music presented by major labels and distributors as innovative, experimental and left-field is only that in image and production quality, with the music itself often falling within contemporary popular genres.

Once we label music as unconventional for the wrong reasons, those artists are treated as anomalies, which not only limits their opportunities but also closes the door for others.

We have all the music in the world at our fingertips, yet we’re led to believe there’s barely any space for variety in mass-marketed music without being labeled as an outlier.

Artists whose music is experimental, or seen as unconventional, are being forced into independent DIY careers due to the industry’s unwillingness to take chances. Meanwhile “Windowlicker” was all over MTV in 1999.

How are artists’ metrics supposed to meet industry standards if the industry isn’t willing to invest in artist development? And what does it say about the industry that artists who are capable of generating those metrics themselves are the only ones worthy of opportunity?

Anyway, as someone who grew up in an era with an abundance of subcultures and sub-genres, the lack thereof in today’s music industry is discouraging. All the more reason to be appreciative of the work people like @Melknee and @SunshineDBaby are doing to make a difference.