May you live in
interesting times.

                So goes the old Chinese proverb. And how well it could be applied to the music world in this hyper-hyped new millennium. Change is swirling all about us. Digital piracy, RIAA backlashes, outspoken metal drummers, litigation up the ying-yang, endless technical possibilities, excitement, cynicism. And so it goes. The times they are a-ch-ch-ch-changin’ at the speed of bytes. But what does it all mean for those who generate the goods, as opposed to the means of transmission? ’Tis high time we heard from the artists. Onward.