the Hype Machine

Just read an article on the Guardian site about bands who initially do amazing then lose massive sales and their fanbase when their next album comes out. Seems to me like a trend that's more and more prevalent, especially when you look outside of mainstream pop -- the likes of Glasvegas, Franz Ferdinand, and even Vampire Weekend all seem to have had that flavour-of-the-month quality to them. Not that their latter efforts were good/bad, but more that whatever they did next didn't seem to garner as much attention as their debuts. I'm sure we all have our theories why, and I think many of the comments below the article itself are quite valid. My own suspicions are to do with the internet and the sheer volume of supposedly good music that's coming out -- once one band has been massively hyped, there's another one to hype up the next day. It's reached a saturation point and I'm not sure how the average fan is supposed to keep up with everything they're being told is good/great. Personally, I've gotten a little sick of music at the moment and can't really pay attention to anything new. Ipods and the instant nature of the web haven't helped; I was better off with radio and when good DJ's had more of a say. Blogs are kinda like all new media in that their content needs to be constantly renewed -- that means they always have to go after the next artist/sound/album. Also, for me, with so much music out there I feel like it's gotten a little cheaper -- all these people, they're not saying anything particularly new or profound, it's all a bit simple and repetitive really. Maybe this is what growing older is like? When pop music just doesn't seem to matter as much. Anyway, here's the article, and the comments below really do seem to sum up the many reasons why some artists are having a harder time now, while also reasoning that maybe it's not just about sales anyway.