This movie establishes two things: 1. Seattle has a great music scene. 2. So does every other large city. 2 and a half. Eventually the media finds you and ruins you.
The events that went down in Seattle are nothing new and nothing old. Left to develop itself any local music scene will mature into something great. Whether or not the press/industry discovers this and shows up to suck the life out of it is up to fate. Hype! is a snapshot of money finding talent. The results range from crappy albums to suicide.
What this film does accomplish is to procure a reaction of artists caught in the overwhelming process of being found. Suddenly you are being offered loads of cash to do the same thing you've been doing for years, or even decades, for next to nothing. This changes your output - you stop playing to the crowd and start playing to the money. The interviewees in Hype! recognize this and speak to it. This is where the movie succeeds. The musicians see what is happening for what it is and call it out. What they fail to do is reject it, but at least they leave a document for the next generation.
At the end of the film there is a warning: Your town is next. Will the next town take the advice?
