Sometimes I think that people cared about their work more in the past. I don't know why, maybe they had more time and put all of their effort into one activity that they chose. Of course it doesn't apply exclusively to the music field.
However, some great artists of our time may be criticezed and ridiculed today. Maybe their time hasn't come yet, maybe it won't ever come because noobody can connect to their art or to what they are trying to convey with it. Who knows, maybe after 5-15 years their art will be needed and desired. I think prog bands aren't called prog for no reason. They are too progressive for their own time, even for prog lovers, old and young included. They can play in some bars and only their friends or small amount of fans listen to them. It's just like with books. Many of the writers and poets, whose art is on everyone's shelves now, they weren't recognised by the people of their era, no agencies or newspapers read them. Who knows ? Perhaps future generations won't need the books which are eagerly read today, even those which are considered classical. Every generation reads or listens to what is important to them, and even every individual person of that generation chooses different books or bands which he himself finds valuable, enjoyable. But tendencies always exist. And only time will tell if the band deserves more listeners or not at all. I try to be vulnerable and listen to the bands that don't seem promising at first and them I'm totally in love with them. Even if they aren't well-known yet, I'll take a chance and follow this band, who know what they'll write in the future?
Of course we can hear some repetitions here and there, many prog bands are influenced by each other and that's not a secret. Again, some book themes can also be repeated by the writers but the language is different and the young could relate better to the new ones. I think same applies to music, musicians can have fun with the same patterns, etc but they can bring their own style into it too. And when it's not so genuine and was made in short period of time, without care, only in order to get some money - then that's a disaster. Even some prog bands sell themselves.