>Is there really such a thing as "mainstream" anymore?
Yes.
>In music, I have heard "who?" reactions from folks reacting to news about artists as well known as Avicii and One Direction.
That's because music in general is not as important in pop culture anymore (we now have games, apps, social media, netflix, and so on to pass time as well -- before it was either music/radio or some (limited in number) tv channels for everyday entertainment).
In any case, Avicii and One Direction will make it into most people's news (e.g. everybody show some piece about the death of Avicci, even if they don't know who he was), because everybody in the end will see one or all of these 5-10 news sources. And of course everybody knows others, like Kanye, even if they don't follow hip-hop news sources.
But much much fewer would hear news about this or that obscure artist, say Marc Ribot, or Phil Elverum.
The names you mentioned (and others, from Kanye to U2) are all over mainstream media, the others are mentioned only/mostly on specialist or fringe outlets and media.
Yes.
>In music, I have heard "who?" reactions from folks reacting to news about artists as well known as Avicii and One Direction.
That's because music in general is not as important in pop culture anymore (we now have games, apps, social media, netflix, and so on to pass time as well -- before it was either music/radio or some (limited in number) tv channels for everyday entertainment).
In any case, Avicii and One Direction will make it into most people's news (e.g. everybody show some piece about the death of Avicci, even if they don't know who he was), because everybody in the end will see one or all of these 5-10 news sources. And of course everybody knows others, like Kanye, even if they don't follow hip-hop news sources.
But much much fewer would hear news about this or that obscure artist, say Marc Ribot, or Phil Elverum.
The names you mentioned (and others, from Kanye to U2) are all over mainstream media, the others are mentioned only/mostly on specialist or fringe outlets and media.