[zachalexander]

I suspect what's actually happening is that they are playing lowest-common-denominator music, which few people are thrilled by, but which more people are interested enough in to stay listening to.

Put differently, there are lots of people that might listen to Latin American music, and very few of us who listen to prog rock. Prog is actively repellent to ~90% of people.

[kristopolous]

This is a common argument but the numbers don't back it. Radio station listenership had tanked and market penetration of pop music with respect to total sales volume is going down. The most popular song rarely constitutes over 0.5% of sales for a given week. The only growth segments I read about are for NPR and non commercial stations.

The real idea is that they want the most cheap to produce, easiest to sell commercial on format. I don't believe that they care much about who listens to it.

[bane]

Yeah, I agree, large media companies have tried to commoditize music and chase profits by squeezing blood out of the stone they've created. But like the sibling commont by kristopolous points out, ratings have absolutely tanked, and I personally believe it's because even lowest common listeners want to hear something other than commercials or the same 3 songs all day.

Even people who like Taco Bell don't eat it every meal.

I think a more challenging problem is that with radio rapidly dying, the music publishers still act like they're the prime advertising medium, and that online streamers should be brought in line with the traditional radio model. The industry is a mess and I can't help keep thinking that it's because they brought it on themselves.