Innovative musicians are slicing, dicing and electronically reassembling the sound of today's music. Meanwhile, music fans have never had so many choices. Well, there's a cloud around this silver lining of great, free music. And copying it without their permission can be illegal. Technology is changing so fast, that the music industry is having trouble keeping up.
Some major artists are angry at the loss of control over their work.
The brave new musical world hit a sour note recently when heavy metal band Metallica was shocked to see a song that they had not officially released available on the web. The artists and writers got paid not just by sales, but also according to how many times their song hit the airwaves. These payments, or royalties, worked just like books. Every time you buy a book, a few cents go directly to the writer. The more people buy her book, the more money she makes.