Tools -vs- Talent -vs- Contacts

More tools (toys) just means more ways to make whatever it is you make or do whatever it is you do. Yes the touch screen interface that can operate high end applications with the least latency will climb to the top. Yes the applications that make it easiest for each of us to do or create what we do will be utilized.

The bottom line (for the musician) always comes down to the music they are making, if they enjoy making it and if they can find the most efficient way to distribute it (no matter the platform)...Winning the battle lies in defeating obscurity.

All across the web there are blogs and comments / debates about the "best" way to make that happen. It still comes down to getting your "foot in the door". Elvis Costello does not have to concern himself with such things and neither do any of the other artists who have managed to stay around (sell music, concert tickets, etc.) for the last 10 to 20 years.

Technology just adds to the saturation in the music markets and really just concerning the "new" artists. Anyone by whatever means who manages to get their foot in the door and be heard by the right ears will find all the tools they need to succeed readily at their disposal.

Make great music, get it in the hands / ears of the right people by whatever means works and you will surely find success with or without a low latency touch screen. The "death" of this and the death of that is all relevant to your ability to make good music as much and maybe more so as your ability to make the right connections.

Almost every success story in music has a very important connection point...meaning that someone with clout heard something they liked (whether it be on a CD, at a show, on the Internet, etc.) and the rest becomes music history.

So I really don't think one tool or toy will change any of that...it will just make for further saturation and a thicker blanket of obscurity to overcome. The best advice is to make great music and get it heard by whatever means possible...If that means "Data-Paks" or Interactive CD / DVD...all of it returns to talent and connections. (And to reiterate; connections almost more so.)