Prior to Napster and LimeWire, the music industry seemed to be a cash cow. Everyone wanted in. But in the world of streaming, artists are making literal pennies on the dollar. Some bands will need tens of thousands of listens and likes to make a paycheck. The music industry is broken, which is why Bruce Springsteen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have cashed in their chips and sold their music catalogue.

In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur analyzes the issues in modern music. He plays interviews from Rick Beato and Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan who said rock 'n' roll was systematically destroyed three decades ago, and the only way one makes it in the music industry is if they have rich parents subsidizing their kids' vanity project. He also touches on the ridiculous New York Times' list of 30 Greatest Living Songwriters, the unoriginality in modern music, and the phenomenon known as "Blue Dot Fever."

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Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at [email protected].