Pop music is the new sellout.

In recent years, a lot of modern rock bands, including those within the pop punk genre like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco and All Time Low, have shifted to a more mainstream/electro pop sound that is too far from where they used to be.

In terms of music or art, selling out is when an artist attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or commercial audience.

A lot of the common traits I’ve heard among these latest releases are programmed drums, super-processed vocals, heavy layers of synths, and near inaudible guitars and bass.

For example, Panic! At the Disco just produced a song called “Me!” with pop singer Taylor Swift.

And Panic at The Disco’s newest album “Pray for the Wicked” is pop compared to older albums such “A fever you can’t sweat out.” I personally have not spent much time listening to the new album because it is so different from their original, alternative style.

In addition, Coldplay shifted its style because their sound became stale, according to fans, and they tried to stay consistent with more mainstream pop.

Nevertheless, Coldplay raised eyebrows for years about whether they are pop or rock.

They started as a soft art-rock band with their first album “Parachutes.” They followed up with a fantastic rock album “A Rush of Blood to The Head.’’

Their latest EP “Ghost Stories” is heavily pop influenced. They now closely resemble a pop band.

There is a fear that Coldplay will very soon lose its style altogether and take a long time to recover to the original style that fans know and love.

Paramore changed music genres to become more mainstream, yet punk hit “Crushcrushcrush” is clearly rock. I don’t see how that can go any other way.

“That’s What You Get” has pop and punk aspects, but I don’t classify it as a rock song because during this time Paramore experimented with different music sounds.

I predict that rock music will die in the next few years as more bands abandon the genre and become involved in the game of switching to pop.