>In another stream of thought..........
>
>The music business (notice I didn't say industry) has given the world Ray Charles and Bill Withers and Jimi Hendrix.

These guys came up by themselves. The business (and specially the publishing industry) didn't create them. It may have help them become what they became, by simply showing them what may sell and what never will.

And there was a story that they let Jimi overdose because only his death may help the sales.

>Even today we have Justin Timberlake.
>
>I know nobody gives him a chance because he came from N'Sync.

He may be as good as you say, I wouldn't know. The industry is trying to sell me only one album, called "The Best Of", by about 100 artists, and they're all the best, they say. Which probably means they're all average. When I happen to know maybe 20 of the bands advertised, there's usually a 10:10 split between the ones I already have, and the ones which are absolute stool, IMO. I assume the proportion would hold for the rest. And, ahem, the 10 that I like have had much better albums; this one was actually the worst. No concept.

So I've learned to rather listen to what my trusted friends recommend - and this guy still isn't on the list. But this doesn't mean much, coming from me. I'm out of the loop, I don't have the nerve to sift wheat & chaff. At least I knew this guy's name from before ;). (and no, didn't know he was from n'sync - don't remember anything from these guys anyway ;)