The year 1999 is recognized by many as a watershed year for the Internet.
In August of that year, Shawn Fanning, the 19-year-old who created Napster in a fit of Red Bull soda-fueled coding, instantly transformed anyone who used it from a passive settler for sub-par radio pop into a music hedonist, someone with the power, suddenly, to choose.
When Pepsi allied with Apples iTunes in a new advertising campaign aimed at training consumers to buy music online, they also determined the right price for a song downloaded off the Internet: one bottlecap.
Writing on the Straight GoodS website, Robert Labossiere suggests that Pepsi’s deal with iTunes sounds a sour note, as does their anti-establishment advertising campaign which, to Labossiere’s sensibilties, smacks of self-serving music industry hypocrisy.
For a more academic analysis of the issue, read Christopher May’s peer-reviewed essay “Digital rights management and the breakdown of social norms”, published by the University of Illinois’ First Monday magazine.

Looks like the baby boomer generation continues its domination of the social, political and cultural zeitgeist, overwhelming every other age-group demographic, at least in terms of economic clout.
According to the latest figures made available by our favourite group of coconuts, the Recording Industry Association of America, people ages 30 and older are buying 56% of the recorded music sold across North America, up nearly 14 points from a decade earlier. Although pop music may have been dominated by young people since the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, change is afoot if Elysa Gardner’s USA Today article, Pop: Rated G for grown up, is to be believed.

“O”, the sophomore release of Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice is, all at once, reflective, wistful, intimate, conspiratorial, exhilarating, melancholy and cathartic, and one of the most remarkable CDs released last year.
A self-styled folk rock artist, Rice’s deft songwriting ability and his plaintive, bittersweet vocals — accompanied often by a truly transcendent Lisa Hannigan — all given depth by a musical palate grounded in emotional intimacy, make “O” a must add to your CD collection.

Robert Christgau is the dean of American music critics.
Posted earlier this month: his latest round up of new releases, the Consumer Guide column’s annual set of hip-hop recommendations.
Covered in the column are CDs by Black Eyed Peas, Dizzee Rascal, Down in the Basement, Four Tet, and The Rapture, among other releases.
For past Consumer Guide columns, simply click on the Robert Christgau link (to your left) under Music. For more information on each of the artists covered in Christgau’s column, simply type the name of the artist / group into the All Music Guide search engine (the All Music Guide is also the first link under the Music category, also to your left).