People often say music makes the world go ’round. I tend to agree with that, but I’m afraid it might be spinning out of control.

Music is a connecting force for people of every background across the planet. It is one of the few mediums that can be universally understood, recognized and appreciated.

That is why it is even more of a shame that there has been such a dearth of exemplary, enjoyable, thought-provoking music in today’s culture.

It goes without saying that music just isn’t the same as it used to be, and people are taking notice.

According to a recent article in Rolling Stone magazine, music retailers throughout the nation have experienced a 12 percent decline in business since last year, which means that fewer and fewer fans are heading to the stores to buy music.

There may be numerous reasons for that - the continual rise in popularity of downloading music online, escalating prices, fewer discounts, etc. - but the fact of the matter is, the music scene is in sad shape.

For years now, it has deteriorated into a lackluster medium that has become overpopulated with more and more meaningless dribble. One only needs to listen to mainstream radio for an hour or two to realize what has happened to music.

Just about every mainstream radio station I have listened to seems to have the exact same playlist - but perhaps there is some truth to that idea.

Clear Channel Radio, part of major media company Clear Channel Communications, is the largest radio operator in the United States, owning and operating more than 1,200 stations.

It is estimated Clear Channel Radio stations reach 54 percent of all people ages 18-49 in the United States.

That means more than half of anyone in that age group, anywhere in the country, listens to a radio station whose programming is completely controlled and determined by one behemoth media company.

That’s a scary thought, considering that entity determines what gets played on those radio stations, and what can then be deemed as “popular.”

Maybe that’s why it seems like an artist can’t have a “hit” unless his or her song is eaten up by every radio station owned by Clear Channel, played every single hour, or produced by the Neptunes.

That’s why it seems like every mindless pop song with a sunny beat and irresistible hook gets beaten to death over the airwaves.

Just about every time I hear a popular song on the radio or see its video on television, I hear someone mumble, “I used to like that song until radio killed it.”

From the time a song is embraced by radio, then possibly used in a car commercial, with its video endlessly spun on various music video channels until it slowly passes out of public consciousness, it may be heard close to a million times.

Then, after a while, whether it’s pop, R & B, hip-hop, dance-inflected or “nu-metal,” every song begins to sound like it was made using a cookie cutter.

It’s no wonder that respectable music publications such as Rolling Stone, Vibe and Spin are constantly running large cover stories that include investigations of the “death of the record industry” and, more importantly, searches for “The Next Big Thing.”

It should come as no surprise that practically everyone is raving about bands like The Hives, The Vines, The Strokes and The White Stripes, or artists such as Cee Lo and Alicia Keys, since their “new sound” is refreshing compared to what is being heard the most.

Actually, it’s quite sad because these musicians are actually popularizing styles of music that were big in the late ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s.

Between the throwbacks to yesteryear and current nu-metal, there doesn’t seem to be anything new or exciting that has never been done before.

In today’s music, there seems to be a continuing clash between the old and the new; a fight of the somewhat original versus that assembled prototypes.

Last week’s “MTV Video Music Awards” was a perfect representation of this.

The entire show itself looked like a cheap, glossy music video.

Time-proven stars who write and perform their own music with few gimmicks in their performances (Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Sheryl Crow) battled against showy, overproduced acts with much less talent (Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy), yet neither could wrestle attention away from acts whose popularity and talent seems to lie in their ability to shock and disturb (Eminem).

It does seem like current musical trends are favoring more intelligent, less polished and glitzy fare, and it appears that pop’s sheen may have finally worn away. Singer-songwriters and earnest performers seem to be back in fashion.

But that still doesn’t explain why millions of viewers tune in to “American Idol” each week to see the next media darling prance around on stage performing songs written by other people in hopes of winning the competition and recording an album made up entirely of songs written, produced and manufactured by pop Svengalis.

Whatever happened to the music that actually said something? Whatever happened to legendary artists like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, B.B. King and Herbie Hancock?

Where is the music that is less about turning a profit and more about being insightful and leaving an impression on the world?

Where is the music that means something?

Mark Hicks is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at hicksma4@msu.edu.