The process of manufactured pop became more compelling than the music itself

Evidence

This fusion of music and reality TV came to a head with Making the Band. The show chronicled the assembly of boy band O-Town by mogul Lou Pearlman (who was later convicted of fraud and died in custody). The drama of manufacturing the band proved more compelling than their actual music, and viewers embraced the behind-the-scenes spectacle. And it worked as a business model: The show generated free promotion for O-Town, whose first album debuted at number five on the Billboard charts. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 135

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Pop music’s stagnation mirrors politics’ collapse into administering capitalism — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1279