[dougmwne]

I think there is also an environment consolidation that is driving this. People are very determined by their environment and experiences. Their art and creativity flows out of those experiences. They also respond to the demand for their art because they want the art to be viewed by many. With our hyper connected and globalized world, the environment that most people experience is getting more homogeneous. Likewise the immediate feedback of social media pushes people to only attempt to create art that will be well received. No more artists misunderstood during their lifetimes struggling to understand how to attract an audience. Just like big tech creates a winner take all market, big media and social media creates a narrow window of content being created and consumed.

And besides, if someone is out there making weird, novel, innovative and unpopular art, the algorithm will never show it to you.

[nine_k]

I see how big media will only show mainstream content: they are the mainstream.

But what about user-curated content in communities such as Reddit? These are vote-based, not corporate-algorithm-based. I suspect you can find worthy unorthodox art there.

And of course if you need non-mainstream content, you have to actively look for it, and always have had, practically by definition.

[Fervicus]

Reddit is ripe with astroturfing, bots, heavy moderation, and a politically/ideologically curated front page. There are some niche subreddits that can be great though.

[nine_k]

Certainly! The front page and popular places like r/pics are the mainstream.

[dougmwne]

Yes, my point is that reddit is an algorithm driven popularity contest that resists novelty and experimentation. Same with all social media. You can certainly post your weird art there, but the algorithm will never show it to anyone.

[krapp]

Yes, which is why subreddits like /r/imsorryjon and /r/fifthworldproblems never took off.

People seek out novel and interesting things - there are subreddits and networks of subreddits dedicated to that. Popularity algorithms aren't monolithic, they take trends like novelty into account.