On the contrary, the music scene has been flourishing in the last 10 years with the Internet and forums like these to make word of mouth be more effective and tools like last.fm and pandora helping people find music that they can truly enjoy.
Unlike the days of yesteryear, the music labels do not have that chokehold on music that they had before. If a band before the 1980s wanted to make a somewhat comfortable living, it was IMPERATIVE that they had to sign to a major label. Now that is good and bad. Good because once signed, the label (if they actually did like your band), would make sure to find a way to sell records by using radio to get people to listen to your music. Which was great back then because radio was the only way to listen to brand new music. There was no Internet, MTV, fanzines, blogs (like this one, by the way: http://pathologicalhate.blogspot.com/p/music.html ) to let music fans know about new music. It was radio, word of mouth. or going to the band's show, but you wouldn't go to a show, unless you heard that band on the radio to begin with. Bad because the labels had almost complete control of the band and the music industry back in those days.
However, now a days, with record sales decreasing year after year, commercial radio not being that vehicle to promote new music, with the problems posed by the Internet and illegal downloading, and new tracks being leaked to the public WAAAAAYYYYY before the album is supposed to release, the music labels today are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to figure out a way to make things go back to the way they were--or at least find a way to make more money.
The solution: overplaying songs on the radio, copy-cat other successful songs from other record labels and create a song with the same-looking artist so your label can make a lot of money too. ("Tonight I'm Loving You" by Enrique Iglesias and Brittney Spears' "Till the World Ends" sound exactly ALIKE!). Pop songs are now made into dance music--EVEN RAP MUSIC has to have that dance-electronic rhythm and beat to it to sell records (are those rap lyricist or are they robots?).
Even the commercial hard rock music is generic (Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback) and sucks to high heaven as those bands who are signed to major labels sound almost identical. Reading a book by David Konow "Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal" where the common theme is that NO TWO BANDS SOUNDED ALIKE back in the 1970s. Each band was unique. In a copy-cat, corporate music scene desperate for money, that can't happen anymore.
However, the problem with the question is that the assumption that old is better than new is based solely on radio airplay. Any current music lover knows that the best music is coming from the Independent labels! Not even indie labels, but with the Internet, bands don't necessarily need to sign with a label at all! Also, with many bands picking the punk ethos of DIY (do-it yourself), many bands can literally be independent (it's a lot harder for your music to get out to the public, but not impossible).
Whether is rock, indie, punk, metal, etc., the best music is coming from the underground, people! There's plenty of bands/artists who know how to play their instruments, try to be unique, write good lyrics, and play a lot more interesting music. Like many people will say, music is advancing, you just have to dig a little deeper to find it. Don't judge our era by the filth that is showing up on commercial radio. Matter of fact, do yourselves a favor and actually TURN OFF YOUR RADIOS. Parents, please do not expose your children to any radio whatsoever. Get the away from the KISS FMs of the world, steer them away from MTV, and turn off RADIO DISNEY. If we try, we can really start a revolution and make a difference......