Did false diversity kill the music industry? A rant by Ritch.

That question has been running through my head more and more in recent months. There are likely thousands of different genres or classifications that exist for music today. Very often it's labeled as "diversity". How wonderful. So much music out there to be heard of every conceivable type and with now with the internet, it's all literally right at our fingertips. There are radio stations that cater to specifically to each genre too. With all of this at the disposal of the average listener, you'd think that people would be experimenting more, taking risks with what they listen to.

Sadly, you would be wrong. The very opposite has occurred. People find their niche, their comfort zone for listening and never venture out of it. One could listen to a country station for the rest of their lives without ever having to experience so much as even a note that resembles hip hop or classical. This was made abundantly clear to me recently.

While working as a dj at a Middle School dance I decided to throw a few curve balls into the playlist. I added songs by the Troy, NY group, Super 400, after playing Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus. Super 400's music is a delicious stew of blues, funk, country, and rock. A real feast for the ears. One of the students came up to me and demanded I play more hip hop (mere moments after the new song began playing). I told him to give this group a try, that the bass and drum beats might be to his liking if he enjoyed hip hop. The student simply wouldn't hear of it and insisted that nothing apart from hip hop was worth hearing.

This scenario repeated itself later on when the "rock" kids yelled for me to stop playing hip hop and to put on Nickelback. A cold realization dawned upon me. These kids haven't been exposed to anything different than whatever genre of music they're locked into. Nothing is prompting them to step outside their comfort zone.

Musicians also share a degree of shared responsibility for this. Looking back on the music of the 1960s, it's obvious to anyone with a decent pair of ears that the Beatles were listening to Motown and in turn, Motown was listening to what the Beatles were doing. No musician or group of musicians was a proverbial island. Jimi Hendrix shattered the idea of genres with his album "Electric Ladyland" and was often fond of pointing out in interviews that his major influences included blues, Handel, and science fiction.

When Michael Jackson died over the summer, many remarked how astonishing it was in the early 1980s that "Thriller" sold so well. In fact, it's the best selling album of all time featuring original music. This isn't rocket science. The album features guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen, a guest appearance by Paul McCartney doing a crooner-styled duet, funky beats, and new wave keyboards. In other words, there's something for everyone. Jackson was never afraid to cross genres and was rewarded as an artist for it.

That's all gone now for the most part although there are those out there who still try. Gordon St being among them. Between the three of us, we literally listen to anything and everything. We spend as much time working on three chord rockers as we do on a heavy funk groove. Conversations frequently take place where The Roots are held up as something to be admired as much as Phish or The Clash.

The impact on sales within the music industry reflect this. I really doubt that the most people who listen to rap on a regular basis picked up the latest from Daughtry. The people responsible for Daughtry accepted this loss from the beginning: people who listen to rock, only listen to rock. People who listen to hip hop, only listen to hip hop, etc. The impact? Whereas 10 years ago sales of 2 million records was considered a failure, now it's considered to be a major success. Why? Because in an era when people don't buy music, the industry takes whatever it can get.

The major labels assume that people are stupid and lack taste and the music of the mainstream reflects this. People need to be challenged, musicians need to take risks. There's more to music than overly simplistic genres.