A world without ‘American Idol’ is unlikely to sound quite the same

The series' success has dramatically boosted the amount of music we see on-screen — think of the seemingly countless awards shows that have flourished in "Idol's" wake and the increasingly frequent music bits on late-night TV. 

In a sense, "Idol" can be seen as having laid the groundwork for the current pop economy, in which star singers hire studio pros on a track-by-track basis rather than teaming with a single collaborator for an entire project.