The Net is a Boon for Indie Labels. NYT:

Even as the recording industry staggers through another year of declining sales over all, there are new signs that a democratization of music made possible by the Internet is shifting the industry's balance of power.

Exploiting online message boards, music blogs and social networks, independent music companies are making big advances at the expense of the four global music conglomerates, whose established business model of blockbuster hits promoted through radio airplay now looks increasingly outdated.

(Suing their customers didn't help, either.)

The surge by independents comes as the four dominant music conglomerates - Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group - find themselves hamstrung in their traditional ways of doing business by an array of forces, including a crackdown on payola (undisclosed payments made to broadcasters in exchange for airplay).

In a world of broadband connections, 60-gigabyte MP3 players and custom playlists, consumers have perhaps more power than ever to indulge their curiosities beyond the music that is presented through the industry's established outlets, primarily radio stations and MTV.

Coincidentally, yesterday I wanted to hear Completely Different music and spent some time poking around Calabash Music, where the site navigation is organized by continent; click on one and get a list of countries.

Best find (for the mood I was in): Michael McGoldrick mixing traditional Irish music with trance and fusion, setting the cloggers free. I just played it for my husband, who called it "Irish meets Incan."

Afghanistan's Kabul Workshop, the Warsaw Village Band, Lei Qiang on the erhu, an ancient two-stringed Chinese violin/fiddle.

I also ran into Paul Pena, the blind American blueman who participated in the "throatsinging" contest of The Autonomous Republic of Tuva. These samples from Genghis Blues are the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated documentary.

There's Baba Maal of Senegal, Fuji Dub ( "Lagos Brooklyn Bixton"), Cuban young and old, playlists that sample a wide range of tunes, and a search that popped up every mention of the late great Nigerian musician Fela, and some tunes obviously inspired by his virtuoso energetic jazz. The title Remember Fela led me to Gangbe Brass Band -- "equally close to New Orleans and Lagos."

Finally, from Steve Morse's last Christmas column for the Globe -- probably his last, since he's taking the buyout -- comes a list of musicians who died this year. Paul Pena is among them:

R.I.P.: Luther Vandross, Shirley Horn, Chris Whitley, Paul Pena, R.L. Burnside, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Link Wray, Richard Pryor, Hunter Thompson, Danny Sugerman (Doors biographer), Ray Peterson (''Tell Laura I Love Her"), Jim Capaldi (Traffic), Spencer Dryden (Jefferson Airplane), Henry Spencer, Merle Kilgore, Ras Junior, Keith Knudsen (Doobie Brothers), Jimmy Smith, Big Joe Burrell, Sandra Dee, John Raitt, Chris Ledoux, Bobby Short, Rod Price (of Foghat), Johnnie Johnson (Chuck Berry's pianist), Mindy Jostyn, Jimmy Martin, Scott Larned (of Dark Star Orchestra), Obie Benson (Four Tops), Big Al Downing, Long John Baldry, John Herald (of the Greenbriar Boys), Eugene Record (founder of the Chi-Lites), Little Milton, Detroit Junior, Vassar Clements, Bea Lilly, and Fritz Richmond.

One more international note: Hanan Levin (Grow-A-Brain) has decided to relocate from Riverside, Calif., to New Zealand by the summer of 2008. In preparation, he's decided to visit the country for the first time. He's there now, on vacation, and blogging about it: Korukoru

No regrets:

Already on my second day I've reached the conclusion that this is the place where I want to live the rest of my life. My main problem will be not to make the move before my target date. I still have some financial considerations that I need to complete before making the switch, and I hope that I will not ignore them, and try to hurry up the process instead.

(2008 is mighty far away.)

His photos (thumbnail page) let us see what appeals to him.