Hi Bevin,

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Talent and popularity are very different things. Of course, they are subjective as well. What I think is good music is different from what my son thinks is good. :-)

This goes back to David Perrell’s Law of Abundance. Average content is getting worse, but the best is getting better as well.

Really high-quality content, art, music, films, etc. (by however we define quality for ourselves) is more accessible than ever. That top content rarely is the most popular or lucrative, but that doesn’t matter.

I don’t think the world owes us a high salary doing whatever we want. We earn money by providing value to others. Ultimately, that value is determined by the audience, not the creators.

As creators, we have to walk a line between creating our best art and producing what audiences want. The best creators can do is lead audiences to better taste.

Doing what makes money is often labeled as “selling out,” but money also offers the freedom to do more original or sophisticated work.