Tony L
Administrator
Yes, that was always been the case that some good stuff bubbles up, e.g. Hendrix and Black Sabbath charted, yet neither could be considered chart pop acts.
There has been a simply massive structural change in music that I guess started with punk/DIY or beforehand and has escalated hugely in the internet age where bands can do everything themselves without any reliance on managers, A&R men, record label advances etc etc.
The equivalent in the ‘70s were independents such as Virgin, Island etc plus many ‘cool’ imprints of majors such as Vertigo, Harvest etc, plus UA was a major that released some amazingly obscure music, but even back then some artists self-released despite the cost. There are a lot of highly sought-after private pressings from obscure prog acts etc just as there were during punk and new-wave.
These days so much amazing music is recorded at home and released via Bandcamp or wherever which leaves the pop-charts full of corporate-funded children’s music. The interesting stuff just doesn’t need the corporate involvement as people will find it via independent means. No one needs a TOTP or radio DJs anymore as they have social media and YouTube. To my mind the whole ‘tin pan alley’ concept of ‘60s and ‘70s chart pop died last century, though the corpse still twitches.
