Who gets to have their music heard?

If you think you can write a great song and that the powers that be will play it on the radio, it seems that you are unaware of the powers that decide who will be a "success" and who will stay in the shadows for their entire musical career. What constitutes success is something that can ,make money for the record companies and the spin off industries that sell the image of the star. Maybe it has always been this way and those living in the shadows will just have to continue plying their trade for the love of it and forget about so called success. Who wants to sell their soul for a piece of silver anyway. Just saying.