my-now classic-aphorism “the only thing that distinguishes innovation from novelty is whether people copy it or not”.
this classic aphorism dovetails neatly with my concept of positive unoriginality, i.e. what you really want to happen with an innovation is for loads and loads of technically proficient, craft-not-art types to copy it, in the process installing it as a culture-wide template
a.k.a. how the sound of the radio changes
the second-order talents play their part, in its way as invaluable as the genius coming up with the genius idea in the first place
as you imply, a Timbaland without Timbaland-imitators would not be nearly so consequential a figure
well i suppose Cher "Believe" versus 21st Century rap is a good example of a gimmick becoming a zeitgeist
David Bowie had a nice quote on this, something like "what really matters is who did something
second". justifying his modus operandus of course.
i think it's been discussed on here before, but the paths
not taken idea is a fascinating one - tracks that could have been a whole future, if anyone had followed their pointers