Urban Hat€monger ?

I'd say it's the opposite.
There's so much variety out there now they can only use their budget on a safe bet.
That's why there's a lack of variety in the mainstream, it's because they're too scared to lose money on something different, and why would you when there's a huge market for the sort of stuff they're pumping out now?
Record companies have always been followers, one has a success, the rest of them follow suit trying to find their version of that success.
It's nothing new but with less major record companies and smaller budgets it's becoming more obvious.

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