Mainstream is an odd one. Some music is designed to be mainstream and is good (Lady GaGa, Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson) and other music simply becomes mainstream because of its often deserved popularity (Radiohead, Muse, The Cure). There's music that I like as well as music I dislike on both sides of that fence.
The question is really - Are you enough of an elitist to dislike music solely because of its popularity? To which the answer is no. Though I understand the desire to discover new music once you feel something you enjoy is beginning to become overplayed.What I don't understand is the concept of 'selling out' all too often spouted as the rationale for that behaviour.
"Selling out" does not involve becoming popular. The act of selling out is, in my opinion, when an artist compromises their integrity or desires as a musician/individual and does something purely to make money instead of doing what they want to be doing. If an artist releases a track with vocals from Katy Perry - maybe that's what they've always wanted to do. It does not mean they have sold out.
Changing sound, style or taking a new direction don't indicate a band or artist has sold out either. All too often, fans of music seem to be under the impression that musicians should want to produce exactly the same kind of sound as before. I can't think of anything more boring. When someone releases music I enjoy, the money I send them in exchange for their albums, t shirts, gig tickets or anything else are simply a token of my support for their expression. Whichever direction that may take them in the future and whether or not I am a fan of it.
I hate the term 'fan'. All too often fans seem too self-entitled. I consider myself more of a supporter of bands, individuals, movements or genres that I enjoy either forever or for a short time only. I think the world would be a better, more expressively interesting world if others were the same.
Ego Prevails.
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