[rfinney]

A thought here: Multitrack recording appeared in 1955 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitrack_recording. Multitracking opened a new, fertile valley for exploration and did usher in a golden age of pop music that was truly "poplar music". It also made a lot of money. The industry peaked about the year 2000 when napster ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster) blew the bottom out of sales . The industry makes about 1/3 of what it used to ( see https://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-sales/ for a graphic on how much revenue has declined ). MP3 killed the video star.

There's still innovation and new stuff. People can make any sound they want on their laptops these days.

There's a lot less incentive to go into the business for talented people.