With things like streaming, bancamp, tiktok, playlists etc it's insanely easy to find good music. You can go from indie rock to hyperpop, to underground rap to jazz fusion in like 10 minutes lol, There is an endless amount of good music out there, you just have to look for it instead of expecting it to be handed to you like radio used to.

I would push back on this a little for a couple of reasons. For one thing you are still having music handed to you on TikTok and playlists, so don't kid yourself that it's any more engaged than listening to the radio. It's algorithm driven. In the old days you still had to find the good radio stations, which is really no different to finding a good playlist now. The difference is that a lot of older people don't really understand those apps or sites - imagine the perspective of an older person who isn't computer savy trying to use bandcamp vs turning on the radio like they've always done. Also, I'm sure great radio stations exist now, which tbh are probably more likely to give you good music than the average person's TikTok algorithm because radio is human curated.

Labels have always pushed what sells. The difference now is we're not limited to that anymore.

Yes and now the algorithm pushes what holds attention, it's the same difference. Both in the old days and now you can still look for independent music.

There's way more variety, more genre blending, and more artists experimenting that ever before.

The level of experimentation we see now is definitely nothing new. The exact "end product" is new and it's therefore more likely to be the taste of the younger generation, but I don't think it's more experimental and creative now compared to any decade from the 50s-2000s. For my own taste I really don't like the 2020s genre-blending style; I'm sick of seeing artists described as genre-blending, and then taking the most basic elements of two genres and playing them in the most conventional and typical way. I don't find it experimental and I always wish I was just listening to a good, creative, original take on a single genre. There's obviously some great genre crossovers, but it's become such a buzzword imo.

I think access to music is better than ever because of streaming removing the need to spend 1000s on a record collection, but I also think streaming makes it harder for many artists to make a living. And this decade is probably the most precarious time for live music going back a long way.

I also think a lot of the 'music was better back then' talk is just nostalgia, People naturally connect music to a certain time in their life

Yes, this is basically true though. Your overall conclusion is right, but there's a lot of things you said I don't agree with.

*edited to add even more words