Grime isn't dead but you have to sift through weeds to find the flowers... regardless there are a number of reasons why things have 'gone wrong'.
1. It isn't deemed new anymore, that initital excitement has been lost
2. Listeners who feel this way seem to have some kind of expectation as to what music should be made, grime is still so young as a genre that there's a number of styles evolving. While I personally don't like a lot of the chilled stuff (such tracks on Wiley's 2nd Phaze included) other people do.
3. We could argue that an artist is supposed to make music for themselves/it's a creative process. Now some people are doing that and the results haven't gone down as well as when they've made something for a crowd or simply cause they thought it would be big on road. There are also the people trying to make a track because they think it will be a hit but is not going to impress on their original fanbase, that's up to them though. Without Nite, Nite would Kano's album have gone gold? I know what I would have done.
4. It's hard to make P's. You need money to press up a vinyl and while you can still make a return, it's not what it used to be. And where there are no club nights, bedroom DJ's aren't investing in vinyl they'll not even get to play down the youth club.
5. Again club nights. It's not happening partially down to clubs themselves and local authorities, but also because the artists themselves can be greedy, lazy i.e. not turn up and let us not forget the chance that some twats gonna turn up and wreck the event. Sometimes the performers themselves are causing trouble and we can complain all we like but at the end of the day it's STREET music.
6. Downloading. Do you think more than 15,000 people own Run The Road? How many people have an extensive MP3 catalogue of tunes that probably only came out on limited vinyl runs?
7. The business. The scene should have known from day one they were never going to go down the major route but there's still, five years on, a major lack of inititive. There are signs of improvement and great things to come but you need the majority operating like this, not the minority.
8. Lack of new talent. Youngers are pretty waste on the whole, give them some time perhaps. It's a shame that they haven't grasped fact to make an impact they're gonna have to come better than the current top boys but judging by RWD forums, the youngers are impressing the kids.
9. And look how many MCs are still using their one 8 bar that get's a reload three years from when it was penned? Lack of inspiration? Lack of talent? Could just be these MC's, many of whom have kids, operate on road or are getting older, thought fuck it. Can't blame them, it just differentiates them from the guys who are genuinely in it for the love of music (be they better or worse). Likewise, bar Boy Better Know and a few others, their stage shows are wack.
10. DJ's are kinda poop, not many showcasing any level of turntable expertise. If grime boasted some superstar DJ's who didn't even use/need an MC, could see a massive change in the clubbing side of things.