It has always been controlled IMO. They choose the artists, they choose what the artists do, sing, and what genre is acceptable to mainstream to be pushing. I have always leaned to rock, metal, anthems, uplifting melodies and beats to dance to and still do today though, any song that any one artist of any genre can catch my ear, some songs/beats just hit right while others are meh. Late 90's I peaced out with what the USA was offering and branched out via internet to find hundreds of foreign bands who were playing the music that I actually loved, many of them in the metal and rock genre.