The Dance of the Independents : During the worst music-industry recession in years, the small guys are outrunning the giants-and that's the beat of the future.

In Robert de Niro's new musical, "We Will Rock You," the music dies sometime around 2030, when a song played by musicians on real instruments is aired on the radio for the last time. From then on, all tunes come programmed on computers by one giant corporation, called Globalsoft, which has taken over the industry. If nothing else, "We Will Rock You," which opened in London two weeks ago, expresses a gut fear of many in the global era: that big, bad corporations are inheriting the earth.

De Niro is onto something, as a musical producer, but it's a half-truth. Yes, four out of five albums sold worldwide are now produced by the five major labels (Sony, Universal, ...