Commercialism

The problem that a lot of people have with liking the more popular music is that it is too commercialized. It seems that eventually everybody's favorite band breaks up or sells out. It is a common indie theme to talk of the dilemma between having an art and having a career and how it doesn't seem that you can have both. A lot of times when a band signs on to a major label, it means that they going for a wider audience and so they broaden their music's "appeal" which usually means that they become a little more shallow, or bubble gum than they were before. Many people claim to be angered that their band has now sold out, or gone commercial, but what they don't seem to acknowledge is that they've always been commercial. Isn't just selling your music commercial? You may be legitimately upset that they've changed their style to reach a bigger audience, but you can't say that that automatically makes the new music bad, or imply that they were never commercial. The issue is that you want to see someone's "genuine" art, not the music they make to impress others. I can get that, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the music. There is excellent popular music and terrible independent music. Independent music tends to produce more genuine artists, with a more genuine fan base. But independent does not automatically equal quality.
Also, commercialism is not one of those things that you can be wishy-washy with. It's sort of a black and white thing. If you buy anything, that's advertised for the purpose of making money off of you cannot complain about commercialism. Perhaps capitalism and commercialism is stealing our souls and replacing it with a need for materials. But maybe its not. Economics is a consequence of the fall of Adam, and any system set up is a system based on the knowledge of the potential of sin. Every economic system is a system of distrust, a failsafe, a check on society. Therefore if an economic system is right in its assumptions, that at least enough people can't be trusted, then it will compromised. Ideally, capitalism seeks to provide good for everyone by providing work for everyone, but this also makes a way for exploiters to take advantage of it. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. If the issue here is authenticity, let's agree to be up front about what we're selling, and actually sell something that's worth having, not for greed's sake, but for simply making a living. Let's sell good music, because we believe its beneficial to hear, not because we want to make more money than we need. Because some are greedy, let us not dismiss an entire economic system. For authenticity is not derived from a any system, but from honesty within the system. Let no one hate.