You may not have heard of the Flow Awards, because they didn't actually exist until just now, when I made them up. But I think they're needed: awards that recognize technology that supports creative flow, instead of disrupting it. I'm going to give the first one to Masterwriter songwriting software.

Linkin Park wants out of its contract with Warner Music group, saying they have no confidence in WMG's IPO plans and may distribute their music via the Internet instead.

Is President Bush participating in illegal file-sharing?

The number of people making music is now so large that it makes sense to run consumer advertising in a music magazine.

Commoditization Watch: Gracenote Global Music Database Identifies 2 Billionth CD

File-sharing advocates often argue that they're furthering a grassroots rebellion against the corrupt corporate music machine. That sounds good, but if it's true, why do the tops of the traditional radio charts and the download/file-sharing charts feature the same artists?

"The public often thinks of artistic inspiration arriving in a sort of thunderbolt moment of creativity. The truth is, almost nothing is created out of thin air." -- from "Intersections", National Public Radio

Apple's Garageband has been making me very happy, because it has so little going for it. It's just that what's there is exactly what you need when you have an idea -- it's the musical equivalent of a pencil and a piece of paper (a standard still unmet by any electronic technology).

Garageband.com is a well-designed digital meritocracy, a large community of people who vote on music based solely on how it sounds. But is it a business?

Diving into a new technology changes you. And it always carries the risk that the technology will make you more like a machine. But if you bounce back, you may find that you can become more human.