'The citizen journalist-reader review thing'

In reaction to Rich's comment: I don't really understand the musician's complaint that, in the world of YouTube and MySpace, "anyone can be as legit as anyone else." There has always been the possibility that any given live performer may not be as good as they sound on a recording, given the ability to manipulate recordings, try again and again for the perfect take, etc. It's been that way for a long time, and digital technology is just the latest wrinkle. I don't see that there is any fundamentally new difference in comparing a live performance to a recording, whether that recording happens to be an LP, CD or mp3. There can always be something "false" about a recording.

And, to reconsider that musician's quote in another light, I should think that, especially for less-established musicians or people trying to make a go of it from smaller cities, the ability to get music out there, via the same tools available to everyone else, is highly positive. There are plenty of cases in which small bands have picked up a greater following due to the Web. (For an example, see this NPR story from 2005 about the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.) I think it's a curious time for music when a quirky songwriter like Regina Spektor rubs shoulders on MySpace with the likes of Justin Timberlake. They're both crammed into the same ugly format; they both seem equally "legit" in that sense. I'm no fan of MySpace (at my age, I simply don't relate to it), but it seems like it's been a worthwhile platform for musicians.