[jaystraw]

I see where you're coming from, but, Frank Zappa said longhairs ruined music: the business brains knew they didn't know, so would try anything. Then, hip kids who thought they knew what was popular started falling out of school with A&R degrees and became the gatekeepers. It became much harder for moonshot, weird and outsider projects to receive attention from labels, let alone funding.

As always, YMMV. Also been reading HN for a long time, and just made an account to respond to this. Times they are a-changin'