Is there any research on how music "quality" depends on its popularity?

[Jerome]

Bands used to become popular because they produced good music. I think these days people/bands become popular because of marketing. People are not making decisions on what music they consume because of the quality of it but because the media machine tells them they must like it. There are still bands producing quality music but they cannot get noticed that easily anymore because the markets are swamped with third rate rubbish like Kanye West, Beyoncé and Justin Bieber. The main difference these days is that you do not need talent to make it big anymore, just flashy cheap marketing. Hell half the people on the charts can't even play an instrument properly. Technology is to blame as well. It's just too easy for someone to become a 'producer' these days, even though they don't even know what a producer's real role is. Sign of the times - and it isn't going to get any better. We now have a generation that believes that quality does not matter as long as the money rolls in. Sad situation indeed.