The Media's Losing Game

Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit) writes:

WHY CD SALES ARE PLUMMETING: The music industry blames piracy, but other factors -- from the ability to just buy the songs you like, and not a CD full of filler, to competition from other things like games and the Internet, to the fact that releases tend to suck more than they used to -- seem more significant.

It occurs to me that the media sectors that are doing badly -- movies, music, newspapers, TV women's shows -- seem to be the most highly politicized, while the sectors that are doing well, like games, aren't. I'd be interested to see more analysis on that subject.

Candidly, while the alleged trends needs some verification, HazZzMat is not surprised that this is happening. Regarding the first graf, "music" itself these days, particularly the pop variety, is in the tank and has in many ways been in the tank since the late 1970s. The talent simply isn't very good, dependent upon the miracle of electronics along with physical ugliness and a complete lack of morals to create the hype that sells third-rate product.

Today, if you're a guy entertainer, you look ugly, have the everyday speech patterns of a drunken sailor, have utter contempt for women, and convey emotion by screaming as loudly as you can, aided and abetted by state-of-the-art amplification. If you're a girl entertainer, you dress like a whore, have the everyday speech patterns of a streetwalker, have utter contempt for yourself, and convey emotion by screaming as loudly as you can, aka, "belting," aided and abetted by state-of-the-art amplification.

You don't have to be an old fogey to clearly discern the musicianship of a Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or Placido Domingo while wondering just what is the point in promoting, say, the latest hollow "American Idol"—who has neither talent, presence, nor subtlety—as the next Great Thing. Not to mention the rapidly-tanking and relatively short-lived phenomenon of rock music which actually has absolutely nothing left to say, either philosophically or musically.

In short, people are tired of paying money for engineered crap. They eventually came to realize that they and their wallets were being massively fooled, so went the way of single-music downloads and self-created podcasts, bypassing the hype machine. What a surprise.

Likewise, Glenn's second graf. The media that are "doing badly" are doing so for the same reason. The average duded and dudette are both bypassing the leftist hype machine. From agitprop academy award winners like the Goracle's scummy "global warming" propaganda to mind-bogglingly biased Marxist house organs like the New York Times, most people (Hollywood types aside) can readily discern the snake oil salesmen in their midst and see no point in paying (and paying well) to help maintain the comfy lifestyles of people who regularly lie to them. Who knew?