The 'Second Media Age' is truly a revolution in the way internet people consume media, and to some point, a renaissance. The structure of music consumption and distribution was based on a demand manipulated by popular media. The Top of the Pops, for example, showed popular artists based on sales for that week. There is a core problem to showing and encouraging this popularity; artists shown on the TOTP would have their sales increase further through the greater exposure to the viewers, due to the programming decisions of the producers of the show.

This issue still pervades current music video shows, such as MTV, rage and Video Hits, whereby the decision to show certain artists is decided by a single person, or a panel. This does not reflect the listening habits of the greater public, as minority groups interested in certain music styles would not be represented. Therefore, a sort of incest emerges, where certain music tastes dictated by the panel is pushed onto willing listeners and musical popularity is generated by biased media exposure, rather than actual interest. The emergence of the internet, and the ability to share music across it, has changed this paradigm completely, and as Beer concludes, can be largely contributed to these shifts in culture and technology.

My personal interest in music applies as a perfect example. I listen to genre's ranging from drum and bass, house, dance and dubstep through to jazz and electro-swing. These genres, in general, are largely dominated by music which has largely repetitive songs, with song lengths extending beyond normal limits of pop music. These genres do not make good viewing, as TV can largely be described as intensive media, and a half-hour show can be consumed two-thirds by a single song of these genres.

Therefore, a smart producer will not broadcast these, but rather more punchy and up-beat pop songs which are catchy, but do not reflect my interests. The internet enables me to bypass conventional broadcast measures, and discover my own styles of music through similar interest groups and dedicated websites designed to present more music artists according to your listening style. I have done away with listening to the radio, watching music videos on TV and keeping an eye on charts music. It's not only because it does not reflect my listening interests but also that I understand the implications of showing artists on these shows, that the larger population rely on these to assume what is 'cool' and popular. This creates the upward spiralling popularity process, until the population is saturated and cannot sustain the heightened level, leading to one-hit-wonders and rapidly changing chart-toppers.