...was the downfall for me. The power of the curatorial filters disappeared, and with it the real financial incentive for a record store to stock good music that they can actually recommend and will actually sell.

Now there is an infinite amount of music coming out, with the curatorial filters working within completely different market forces. They don't have to sell their product, they have to sell advertising, or they have to sell their writing to a magazine or website that has to sell advertising.

I suppose maybe it's always been that way. It makes me sick to think that dude Tom Breihan (Formerly of PItchfork) was the most influential critic in hip hop for a year or two. I just picture a dude walking into a record store and checking out the hip hop section one day for the first time, and then soon enough, everyone is inexplicably crowding around him to hear what *he* has to say about a record that you probably wouldn't care about otherwise, and people are actually persuaded to care.

I miss the routine of going to the record store a few times a week to discover and share new music.