how culpable are the band members themselves you think?

I'm talking about those run by smallish labels....I've seen some really really bad juvenile press releases...i wouldn't mind the bad ones if they showed some kind of charm at least...but the cringeworthiness is often matched by a high level of arrogance...

I don't know any band that has not had some kind of input into their promo lit.

If this is the case for most artists it sort of brings into question the mentality of people that make music their full time activity