] Martin and Ruth, aka Spike, the next big girl/boy duo (so
] they hope) add some synth and a new background vocal to
] the mix. He saves the song and she emails it to
] Polyphonic Human Media Interface who, within 24 hours,
] will tell them whether their song will be a hit. When the
] results arrive they hover over the 20in screen and click
] on the returned mail. There is a graph, showing a cluster
] of many dots, like a constellation, and somewhere in the
] cluster a red spot. The spot marks their song, not quite
] a bullseye, but still in the throng. "It's scored a
] seven," Ruth says, scanning down. "We're in. The record
] company will definitely meet us now." Their future
] suddenly looks a lot rosier.

This seems ahead of it's time. Quite impressive. I'm going to disagree with Kerry here. This is the future. First, it gets cheap enough for every band to tune every song on the suckometer such that it becomes a hit. Then, it gets cheap enough that everyone with garage band can work against the suckometer. Thats when the music industry really starts to collapse, because your friends start producing billboard quality music in their garage. Then someone decides to eliminate the middle man and simply have the computer compose the music directly. Of course, this enables lots of customization.

The end result is that humans will view music as simply a mirror which reflects and re-enforces their emotions. In the same way they use political commentators. In the same way they use clothing. It won't matter that it isn't being made by a person. The idea of people making music will seem quaint. Sort of like having a professional pianist living in your house instead of buying a stereo. Something so expensive and unnecessary that it will seem a little sickening. The machines will do it better. They'll make you feel the way you want to feel, exactly when you want to feel that way, and they'll never bore you with repetitive songs...

Don't worry. You'll be long dead when this all comes to pass.

Guardian Unlimited | Together in electric dreams