So where does all this leave the artists, and their music? A quick glance at the winners of this year’s poll suggests that even if the major labels are being killed by downloading and the sheer number of CDs that hit the stores each Tuesday, the artists are making out quite well, thank you. If you look beyond CD sales and start adding up all the money that comes in from touring, from merch, and from the host of licensing deals available to artists of every stripe (not just the White sort), it becomes obvious that even if there are more artists taking a bite out of the pie, the pie actually is growing in size. And, more often than not, the folks who put together soundtracks for, say, The OC, aren’t all that interested in getting tangled up in major-label red tape when there are indie artists out there who are much easier to get through to. And indie labels have been getting more adventurous: two of our winners this year, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars in the world act category and Tom Waits in the roots category, record for imprints of the So-Cal punk indie Epitaph. That may be one of the most encouraging trends of all, because it opens the door for a whole new generation of consumers to acquaint themselves with exciting outsiders.
Related:
Chairmen of the boards, The Go, Bar-band bonding, More 
- Chairmen of the boards
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
- The Go
Fear not, Nuggets heads: on their new long-player, Jack White’s old bandmates in the Go sound as if they hadn’t heard a note of music made since 1972.
- Bar-band bonding
Jack White’s just one of those guys who likes the idea of being in a band. Slideshow: The Raconteurs at the Orpheum Theatre, September 29, 2006
- Boys club for men
This is one side project that's for real.
- Double dosed
May has been a big month for mainstream rock, with high-profile releases by Pearl Jam, Tool, and Jack White’s Raconteurs racking up blockbuster sales and claiming pop-cultural real estate reserved more often these days for Kevlar-clad rappers.
- Slick Weave, the Ruler
Have you heard that new(ish) Raconteurs album? Wow.
- On the racks: May 16, 2006
Plus new records by Radio 4, Rock Kills Kid, and Ben Folds.
- Review: It Might Get Loud
Some guitar teachers will tell you there’s a right way and a wrong way to play the guitar. But Davis Guggenheim’s rousing new documentary, It Might Get Loud, reminds us that that’s not true at all.
- White out
When the band walked onstage, the audience cheered; when Jack sang his first line, it roared.
- Gnarls Barkley: Rebirth of soul
I’m probably not the only one who went to the Gnarls Barkly show Friday night at Avalon wondering if the costumes would be the most interesting part. Slideshow: Gnarls Barkley at Avalon, August 11, 2006
- The Raconteurs
Jack White’s other band — the White Stripes — may be known for their bass-less, three-drums-and-six-strings set-up. But the truth is, he’s been using all kinds of instrumentation all along.
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