give an example of a famous sellout

When he started he was naive. he was unencumbered by the responsibilities, and concerns and invented stresses that lead him to "need" more money, to "need" to sell out.

as he sold out, he "needed" to sell out more because he had more people telling him that what he was doing still had the original integrity. and since he had lost the innocence, and direction that made his original work good, and he fell into a cocoon of himself of his celebrity, he lost what gave him value

selling out is a process of divorcing from reality, "you can't see the audience with spotlights in your eyes you're feet can't feel the highway from where the lear jet flies"

 

Kurt Cobain for takin the easy way out.
If indeed ,he really did commit suicide.

 

I don't think it is impossible to divorce yourself from fame.

Townes Van Zdant was a drunk living in barns during the height of his career.

Tom Waits has also remained true to his roots simply by making unique "unlistenable" music, for 30 or so years. Small Change was the perfect formula but he never repeated it.

The original Bob Dylan was perhaps a sell out from the beginning. Everybody knows he was not the image that he liked to portray, and thus he couldn't make honest music forever.

Or perhaps Blood on the Tracks was simply too beautiful to follow up.

 

Hmmm... I would see it being the opposite in another context.

Once you sell out you are coming to terms with reality and are less in control because of it. If you have to for go your original style in order to progress, you are bending to reality and accepting your fate as an artist/business person.

The reality of it all is that Bob Dylan is not a Hero God Musician, but a man who will wither away from the Icon he originally was.