In the last quarter century, a time of better living through technology, we’ve accomplished nothing but to create bigger messes for each succeeding generation. A philosopher named Carl Krauss once wrote "We are trapped in a tragedy and unable to recognize our guilt." Perhaps this pre-Millennium era will go down as the "Age of Hypocrisy."

As previously stated, our glorious land now specializes in turning out assembly line human beings. Individualism, once the keynote of American life, is largely absent from our country and its corrupt culture. There is only one thing that matters in this society, the necessity to consume. It penetrates every fiber of our existence. Buy or die. What if people stopped buying CDs?

The 60s and their aftermath weren’t perfect, but at least there were voices of dissent, boisterous and dramatic. Like John Coltrane. And Abbie Hoffman.

Change did seem possible. Two movements were actually born, feminism and environmentalism. Then came the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. The public mantra became "Greed is Good" and multinational corporations took control. They certainly have no plans to relinquish command no matter what the cost to human life on this planet.

Two of those hydra-headed beasts have recently merged, meaning that one entity will control the catalogs of Verve, Impulse, Commodore, Decca, Cadet, Argo, Chess and Blue Thumb. They call it, consolidation. Then comes downsizing and layoffs. And of course salary increases and hefty bonuses for the top executives.

Not too long ago, I recall a rather lively, healthy outcry against corruption, injustice and bigotry, all the things people can’t stand. Today radicalism or its weak kneed progeny, liberalism, is a synonym for treason.

In the 1976 film "Network," Paddy Chayefsky wrote something that echoed throughout movie and seemed to speak for the times, "I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it." If Chayefsky wrote that today, he’d probably say, "I’ll bend over and gladly take it as long as the price is right."

But what can the individual do? What can the artist do today to affect change?

The artist has a podium, a vehicle for ideas. Sadly, so few of our creators utilize their moment of attention to communicate a meaningful message.

I suspect the goal of most musicians is to "get a deal with major record label" It’s an empty dream. They want to be rescued by the system. The system doesn’t want to recognize them, it wants to bury them.

That old "make me a star" mentality survives. How many artists believe their validation can only be fulfilled in the marketplace?

Within a few years, an easy to use, transportable utilization of the point to point technology you are currently plugged into will become the principal means of global music distribution. Go to an artist’s website and get the music. Goodbye middle man, i.e. record label.

This concept has some rather profound implications. What will happen to the present configuration of the jazz industry when musicians can easily distribute their recordings directly to listeners, worldwide, along with broadcasting pay-per-view performances and archiving them for later retrieval? The conditions for such a revolution are already in place.