but if the listeners didn't listen to songs so "dumb", we wouldn't have labels promoting songs even "dumber".
Not really, because if the same company (e.g. TimeWarner) ultimately owns both a record label (e.g. Warner Music) and a media networks (Turner), then the latter ultimately becomes the advertising arm of the former, and will shove whatever the label produces down the viewer's throats to drive sales. The label, on the other hand, is motivated to drive its own costs down by producing more and more crap because it will sell anyway.
I've had a small enlightenment when someone has pointed out to me (many years ago, in the era of CDs) that there is absolutely no reason while a Britney Spears CD should be more expensive than a classical music CD, given that the latter requires significantly more people to record and produce. Heck, [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightwish"]a niche metal band[/ame] can even afford to hire [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Philharmonic_Orchestra"]a world class symphonic orchestra[/ame] to record parts of
an album with a total production cost of mere EUR 250K. I doubt that recording Britney's opus magnum,
...Baby one more time costed more than that, but it was being shoved down everyone's ears for the better part of 1999/2000 as if it was something which costed millions to produce and had to be sold at all costs...
Ultimately, when the same party controls both the production and the media, then the free market no longer works, because you can use the media to
create demand for your product.