But you surely have to face the side that goes in the vain of simplistic pop music: it exists because people consume it; enforcing the production of more "refined" content won't make people switch to it. The solution of course is improving education (in a broad sense including cultural and political awareness).
On the other hand, while simply producing quality content can't change the picture, it sure doesn't hurt either. Take the BBC, National public radio, or a state sponsored network in Brazil called TV Cultura (culture TV), which has great content if not the most popular.
>But you surely have to face the side that goes in the vain of simplistic pop music: it exists because people consume it; enforcing the production of more "refined" content won't make people switch to it.
By itself no. But giving more refined content the same level of promotion as simplistic pop will.
In the sixties teenagers were OK to listen to something as evolved as the Beatles, and the industry went along. Regularly the top-100 was filled with stuff that was not cookie cutter (with the ocassional clunker like the Monkeys and such, but even "fabricated" stuff was of higher quality, like Motown, and even ventured into experimentation).
Now we're back to late-fifties style manufactured idols, because they can be produced, marketed to death, sell merchandise change to fit fashions, and tossed aside when done, with more ease, which increases the profit margins over promoting actual musicians who just care for the craft.
(And I'm not saying that because I'm anti-electronic music or anything. I like from Tom Waits and Lou Reed to Autechre and Aphex Twin, with all kinds of electropop thrown in, from Yello to Plastikman. This rant is about manufactered simplistic BS vs stuff with artistic pretentions -- or even manufactured "joy" vs actual fun of life).
On the other hand, while simply producing quality content can't change the picture, it sure doesn't hurt either. Take the BBC, National public radio, or a state sponsored network in Brazil called TV Cultura (culture TV), which has great content if not the most popular.