Re: the worst things to happen to music
The list is terrible. The moment I saw "Sgt. Pepper's" at #50 I knew it was crap.
Here are some legitimate things that have screwed up music (in no direct order)
# Napter, illegal file sharing, etc. Yes, I know. I'm betting tons of us have done it at least once. And, I'm not sure it hurts the "big" already made artists. But it is killing independent distribution labels who basically can't get a deal worth a damn. Smaller labels have basically ate it.
# Ticketmaster. Nothing has screwed with the interest of fans in the way that ticketmaster has. High ticket prices, locked tickets, institutional scalping.. while at the same time they have basically screwed the artist while keeping a considerable amount of concert revenue - more then ever in comparison to a venue-selling. Ticketmaster's insane practices have forced out small concert shows, and made it where realistically only blockbuster corporate sponsored up the ass concerts can really put money in an artists pocket. Once again, the smaller artist gets the shaft.
* Sony/BMG - I can't think of another record company that has so managed to influence music in exactly the wrong direction. Sony's pricing practices on CDs led to an artificial high point of up to $18 a disc for a while, and their promotion of multiple formats, rootkits, and degraded audio to prevent copying have made everyone suffer.
* Itunes. Yes, I love Itunes. But I also hate it. Itunes has effectively made significantly lower quality audio "the standard". The .99 cent standard also sucks in that older songs - which otherwise would not sell, still net a dollar.
