Oh "The Pain"

Ye gods that's truly horrible. . .

I can't agree with all of Grant's comments though. Using a computer to create good music *is* an art. The main trick being the ability to tell the difference between "Hey, that's a good sound" and "God, what a bunch of annoying, meaningless, crappy bleeps and thumps". Unfortunately, just like the rest of the music industry, there are a lot of talentless hacks that the big labels try to pass off as musicians. Computerised music just follows Sturgeon's Law, same as everything else.

And well, requiring original artist's permission before performing covers could get ugly. . . there's a reason compulsory licensing was invented ;P