I find the whole concept of a critics bizarre. I don't need other people to decide whether to like something or not. If I like some music and the critic does not - what of it? He's just another human being with ears and an opinion.
You can't listen to even 1% of the music in the world in your lifetime. You need to filter somehow.
TL;DR: "Just because you wrote it, what makes you think you know anything about it?"
I expect an (ironically academic) argument about how monomaniacal focus on mass-market appeal doesn't necessarily entail a race to the bottom.
I'd be surprised if someone believes that in reality a monomaniacal focus on mass-market appeal doesn't entail a race to the bottom, though.
> I expect an (ironically academic) argument about how monomaniacal focus on mass-market appeal doesn't necessarily entail a race to the bottom.
If the above sounds too academic and pedantically rejecting the idea of mass-market appeal entailing a race to the bottom, let's turn the question around: why are you assuming that the only two options focusing on mass-market appeal or focusing on what critics think? Do you really think that there wouldn't be any music produced for a niche audience if not for critics? There's plenty of existing music that isn't produced for mass market appeal already, and I have trouble believing that it exists only because of critics rather than in spite of them.