[Z]

I think so, it's not the cause but it's certainly a large part of the problem. I think it dates back to Popstars and Pop Idol really - that was a time when cheesy 90s music was still popular - Steps, S Club 7 and the like dominated the charts. Popstars documented what these sorts of groups went through to get to where they were for very little return and it's not much wonder that Hear'Say and Liberty X died out with the last of that kind of music. I think Popstars: The Rivals would have been the same were it not for Girls Aloud releasing Sound of the Underground as their debut single, I think that still today remains to be the exception to the rule - I don't know why talent shows have never picked out a new track that packs as much punch as that one for their winners, instead they go down the annoying cover version ballad route every single time. The onslaught of new disposable popstars every Christmas from the X Factor is just flooding the market and ultimately damaging its own brand. They keep launching new popstars for their target audience to care about, and it impacts upon their existing popstars who need support - how many reasonably successful acts have they launched from the X Factor in recent years? Not all of them can get a guest performer spot on the Sunday show, it's such a hollow promise from the X Factor that they are going to find the next star or whatever they claim... they find the next star, or find someone to try and be the next star, for 3 months and then leave them to fend for themselves completely clueless in an unforgiving music industry that either doesn't want to help them because they're seen as a tainted brand already by being an X Factor singer, or they rush to help them because they want to snap up these 'big stars' while they're still clueless about what they're doing.