Popular music really sucks right now, and it’s your fault.And if it’s not your fault, then it is highly likely that the majority of your friends, classmates and family members are to blame.

That’s right. I am accusing you and most of the people you know of weakening the music industry to its current, pathetic form — sick and wasting away from diseases such as greed, Rob Thomas and Metallica.

Not everyone is to blame, however. There are some true music lovers out there who own Radiohead’s “Kid A” — my choice for album of the year — or who are eagerly anticipating the much-delayed release of the new 2 Skinnee J’s album, “Volumizer.”

Most of the music-purchasing (or music-trading, if you’re a Napster fan) population, however, is the main reason music is in such a sorry state.

Sure, a lot of people want to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of music industry entities such as record labels, MTV and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst’s oversized head. And Metallica — I can’t forget them. The list goes on and on.

But as much as record labels screw quality artists and hype crappy bands, as much as MTV plays the same 10 crappy videos every afternoon, and as much as Metallica’s Lars Ulrich whines about Napster, the cause of the music industry’s ills is not any part of the music industry.

Well, maybe Lars is partially to blame.

Music consumers are the real problem. This majority group should not be confused with the music listener minority. The two are quite different.

A music consumer is someone similar to the Washington University student I sat next to on the plane I took from New York to St. Louis two weeks ago.

A New York native, who had flown home to see the opening game of the Subway Series, the Wash. U sophomore seemed like a nice guy. Having just experienced the CMJ Music Marathon, I was really excited to listen to, write about and discuss music.

So I asked him what type of music he listened to, and he said he didn’t really listen to much music.

What? I was stunned. He didn’t listen to much music? I probed further, inquiring about whether he had a favorite band.

“Well, I like Dave Matthews, but I don’t listen to much music,” he said. “Yeah, Dave is probably my favorite.”

Dave? The band that at one time made innovative music but has since sold out and released three live albums and only one studio album in the last three years?

My flight neighbor was definitely not a music listener. No, he was one of two main varieties of music consumers — the apathetic kind.

Indifferent to what he or she is actually listening to, this type of music consumer listens to bands such as Dave Matthews Band, Creed and Matchbox 20.

Now that I think about it, the last two bands I mentioned are from Florida. And so is Limp Bizkit. Hmmm…

Then, there is the other brand of music consumer. And “brand” is definitely the right word.

These music consumers snatch up the latest pop album being hyped by MTV and commercial radio.

They usually just buy whatever easily digestible, pre-packaged CD product is offered to them, not really taking the time to look for music that stretches musical limits and challenges listeners.

If your little sister loves ‘N Sync or can’t wait to hear the new Christina Aguilera Christmas album, she is part of the “easily-satisfied” group of music consumers.

And if you name Papa Roach, 3 Doors Down or Third Eye Blind in your list of favorite bands, you probably are too.

If more people were discriminating when they purchased music, record companies would not be able to sell millions of copies of crap such as Limp Bizkit’s latest album, “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water,” and Britney Spears latest, “Oops! I Did It Again.”

If more people turned off Channel Q and Lazer 103.3 — who really needs to hear “Higher” or “Enter Sandman” again, anyway? — and tuned into KURE, sampled many of the quality unsigned bands on MP3.com and supported local music by going to shows and buying D.I.Y. records, labels would have to take notice of talented artists that would otherwise be ignored.

If more people were music listeners — people who truly care about music and who put a decent amount of thought into their music choices — the music industry would be a much better place.

It’s your fault, but it doesn’t have to be. Be a music listener, not a music consumer.