Why the term ‘mainstream music’ is outdated

To be part of the "mainstream" music scene doesn't mean what it used to. Yet in today's world, you don't have to be mainstream to have thousands of fans.

Before the internet really exploded around 2000, our access to music was limited.

It began at the record label level. Without a deal, getting distribution of your music was nearly impossible. Even if you did, your music was run through other filters: radio, music video channels, record stores and music magazines. The entire time, you competed with all the other new songs out there, along with older established favourites.

Getting the public’s attention was hard. Getting them to part with their limited disposable income to buy your music was even harder.

But because the initial supply was small and the winnowing process so stringent, rewards awaited the lucky few who came out the other side of the star-making machinery system. We lived in a monoculture, driven largely by radio airplay. In those days, we had a general idea of what everyone else was listening to. Music fans were connected by a common music vocabulary and a need to know that there were others with similar musical tastes. And because the biggest songs were so ubiquitous, we couldn’t help but learn the lyrics to even songs we hated.

To be a mainstream artist was to be BIG: Michael Jackson-Madonna-AC/DC-Eagles big. You could stop any stranger on the street to name three songs by any of those artists and get three correct answers.

Today, though, we all live in our separate, individual and highly personal musical bubbles, and we like it a lot. It’s so empowering to have our own little special niche that’s tailored for us. Thanks to streaming, there’s no more “mainstream” music fan. We’re all unique, each with an opinion on what music is “good.”

Even with someone as big as Taylor Swift, her songs haven’t achieved the kind of ubiquity we used to see before 2000. If you want to test that, ask a random stranger to name three Tay-Tay songs. Unless you choose a Swiftie, that person will probably struggle. I work in the music industry with all sorts of music 24-7-365 and I have trouble.

Another example: What was the song of the summer of 2025? What song was in everyone’s heads over June, July and August? For the first time in years, there was no clear winner. This underscores the fact that we’ve moved beyond big artists having big hits for the masses. Today’s hits are far smaller than those of the past because the same number of people can no longer come to a consensus on what we should all be listening to. That shared experience over a song/artist is nowhere near what it used to be.