Is Pop Music Holding You Hostage?

Under that catchy title, PBS Digital's "The Idea Channel" poses the question - what makes pop music popular, and how should all this stuff be priced anyway. In a fast-paced ten minutes they focus on the role of radio, with its implicit payola and surprising reach, in making a musical act popular. A popular act's songs may appear in movies/commercials/etc but first they gotta get there and becoming "pop" is a black art at best.