Gurdonark, yes. The more I think about it, too, the more I think we’ll keep seeing the figures behind the music we love as being legends in some way. Probably just more legends, more often.

Also, I was thinking about Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and the idea that things “tip” into widespread popularity via the relationship between mavens, connectors, and salespeople. When you think about “taste making” in terms of these three different roles, it’s maybe easier to see how the web is still fostering relationships between people in those same roles–just in a looser way (e.g., less formally, more dynamically, etc.) than 20th century media.

p.s. I really like your “Roadrunner” — listening now.