This new book by Andrew deWaard is a chilling assessment of the dumbing down of popular culture due to unbridled financialization by private equity.

Lax government regulation regarding mergers and acquisitions means there are now only 3 major record companies.

The financialization by private equity and Wall Street into TV, music and film has had a corrosive effect on content by re-hashing old songs and multiple movie sequels - ie. playing it safe.

At the same time the artists and creatives who actually make the content (songwriters, screenwriters etc) are paid a pittance (eg. a fraction of a cent per stream for music) - as the capital and profit is diverted upwards to the investors ,corporate owners and political lobbyists- in order to relax regulation and let the gravy train continue.

The final chapter offers some solutions and a reset of how capitalism should work with government and avoid the legal and tax loopholes to enable this disfunction.

For the consumer - we will have to endure more mediocrity disguised as content (with a few exceptions) until a wider change can happen.

With the intrusion of uncontrolled AI  - it will probably have to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

Highly recommended and eye opening!

More info here:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/210782475-derivative-media