It seems that everyone has an opinion about the state of music. Almost everyone agrees, this music stuff is pretty much a shell of its past glory. Musicians blame the labels, labels blame the media, media blames the labels, consumers blame radio, the labels blame the consumers… and on and on it goes.

In the last couple of years there have been a number of voices from artists that have had something to say. And the folks spouting off are not just any artists, but artists of extremely high caliber. Joni Mitchell has pretty much stated that she’s done with it… All of it. Dylan has blasted the state of music on quite a few occasions. T. Bone Burnette used the success of his “Oh Brother” soundtrack to (and rightly so) slam the purveyors of musical junk.

Since everyone else has an opinion, I’m going to give you mine. The fault is not primarily with the labels, or the artists or downloading, it’s with the media. Research and over targeting of the media has lead to the creation of a mass marketing machine that reaches for the least common denominator. And here is the amazing thing: There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Pop music markets have always existed and always will exist. Pop music is great. But lliterally everything is pop music. Country is pop music. Rock is pop music. Adult music is pop music. Alternative is pop music. There isn’t any room for anything else to exist.

So who is to blame? Believe it or not it’s not the mega radio companies like Clear Channel or Infinity. It’s not even the last few record labels. They are in the business of returning profits for their shareholders. They make a great target for folks because they are gargantuan monoliths and because they are profitable, of course, they’re evil. But the big media companies have done their job; they’ve become successful. Can’t fault them for that.

As much as I love Dylan and Joni Mitchell and T. Bone Burnette (and I do!) I think it’s time for them to put up or shut up. One or all of these great artists should take part of their war chest and invest it in the future of music. If they hate the current state of radio, then they should use their power, influence and hard earned cash to create a radio group that promotes artists and songwriters. Sure seems to make sense to me. Beat the big media companies at their own game. I’m sure they could get investors. Who wouldn’t invest in a radio group that had names behind it like Bob Dylan, Don Henley, Joni Mitchell, T. Bone Burnette, and Janis Ian?

But the one important key would be to use modern programming and marketing techniques to their advantage and make it a viable business with a viable business model. Use the research and programming techniques that the big radio companies use now to target their programming. Hire media and radio professionals to run the radio group as a localized network with quality programming that sounds like professionals put the thing together. Not like a bunch of hobbyists with disdain and hatred for the music “biz” that are out to knock the chip off of their shoulder. Sure it would be tough. Radio and media professionals working hand in hand with artists creating a viable business venture with the centered target of playing well crafted music created by adults, for adults. But it’s sure would be a hell of a lot better than much of what we’ve got today.

Sundance Channel’s four-part series “Keeping Time: New Music From America’s Roots” looks at American musicians and songwriters who are carrying the torch of traditional music.” Find out about it here.

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“Lee Abrams, chief programming officer at XM Satellite Radio and founder of the “Album-Oriented Rock” (AOR) format that helped legitimize FM radio in the early 1970s, says there are points in time when ‘there are periods of musical intensity, where there’s great invention, fabulous music, and the emergence of a whole new generation of artists.’ This, says Abrams, is not one of those eras.” GREAT! Read it here.