Top Highlights

• Peer-to-peer file sharing had turned consumers into distributors. CD burners had turned them into manufacturers.
• Through the breach rushed a new generation of bands and fans empowered by personal computers and broadband Internet connections. Willy-nilly they forged a new world of music distribution that seized control from once all-powerful music and radio conglomerates.
• Commercial radio, MTV, retail stores, and record companies lost their exclusive tastemaker status, while consumers morphed into de facto music programmers who shared information and music via message boards, Web pages, e-zines, and MP3 blogs.
• In this world, the fringe players could more easily find and build a dedicated audience, and a musical ecosystem encompassing thousands of microcultures began to emerge.
• In this broader, more diversified world, bands such as Montreal’s Arcade Fire, Seattle’s Death Cab for Cutie, and Omaha’s Bright Eyes rose to prominence. They were viral success stories, selling out shows around the world before they were selling albums in the kind of numbers that would make the majors take notice of them.