"The Decade in Music: '00s" on NPR Music now

Starting today, NPR Music presents “The Decade in Music: ’00s” – an across-the-site, comprehensive, sound-filled exploration of the music, moves and moments that defined the decade. Led by Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, “The Decade in Music” tracks and assesses the hits and misses of the past 10 years, and how it all – from the business of making music (and a buck) to the birth of multi-genres to the availability of file-sharing – impacts the way everyone experiences music.

This special coverage begins today and runs through November 20 at www.npr.org/music, and will be updated daily with new material and music in all genres. Brownstein will guide NPR Music’s coverage from Monitor Mix, and introduce a new theme each day that will be explored throughout the site. Topics will address music discovery, women in rock, re-evaluating the concept of selling out, what happened to genres and to pay or not to pay for music.

“Even though part of what makes the last decade in music so unique is that we’ve been analyzing and dissecting it throughout, there still feels like a need to make sense of all of the changes,” says Brownstein. “With our ‘Decade In Music’ coverage, we’re looking back, looking forward and most importantly, taking stock of what we witnessed in music over the last 10 years. Technology has made us shed our former notions of collecting and archiving, of listening and of fandom itself. Our exploration of the decade will involve a multitude of contributors from the music industry, polls and surveys, interactive features and of course, music.”

“The Decade in Music” combines the expert commentary of Brownstein, musicians and industry insiders with the enthusiasm of the audience. As fans were central to many of the changes that occurred these past few years, NPR Music is making their input key to this look back. There will be a 24-hour song-writing challenge, timeline of millennium milestones and questions of the day. And yes, a few lists. Look for these highlights:

· The 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade. Today, All Songs Considered opens nominations on its blog for this top 50 list. The results will be revealed on Monday, November 16.

· Show Me Yours. NPR Music will encourage audience participation through a series of daily questions. Today’s question asks whether the past decade’s changes in technology have made music better. NPR Music also wants to see your music collections. Upcoming inquiries will request pictures symbolizing the value of the last song someone bought (November 10); participation in a 24-hour song-writing challenge (November 16-17); reviewing a song on Twitter (November 17); and nominating someone who refuses to change with the times for a Monitor Mix profile (November 19).

· Guest contributions. Interviews with and essays by musicians and those-in-the-know, including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore; DangerMouse; jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas; music writers Michaelangelo Matos and Douglas Wolk; and Eric Garland of media tracking and technology company BigChampagne.

· Decade Timeline. An interactive timeline presents NPR stories on the decade’s definitive moments in music. Perhaps fittingly, Britney Spears’ rise (with “Oops I Did It Again”) and chart-topping comeback (“3”) bookend the documentation of the period. Other pivotal events revisited are Metallica’s Napster lawsuit, the launch of MySpace and Radiohead’s pay what you want method for In Rainbows.

· ’00 Song of the Day: NPR Music’s Song the Day will review a song from the Billboard Hot 100 from each year of the decade. Today it’s “Bye Bye Bye” by 'N Sync; later we’ll hear “In Da Club” by 50 Cent (from 2003), and, for 2007, Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

“The Decade in Music” coverage will also be featured on NPR’s afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered in a two-part report about how using and making music has changed. In the first part, airing this week, NPR’s Jacob Ganz looks at how people value music now, the new ways they experience it and why. Ganz concludes the piece the following week by exploring how recording, publicizing and selling music has evolved, and checks in with musicians to see how they feel about it all.

NPR Music is a free, multimedia music discovery Web site at www.npr.org/music. The site offers content from NPR and 12 NPR Member public radio stations, including live performances, studio sessions, first listens to new albums, interviews, reviews and blogs. The site's continuously expanding sections are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. NPR Music culls from NPR's and the stations' extensive music archives to present thousands of features; more than 250 new features are added to the site every month.