Rock veterans were looking to rekindle faltering audiences. Flash-in-the-pan artists were trying to find life after MTV. Aspiring musicians were looking share their music with more people. And almost everyone was looking to get paid.

The Role Model: Robert Fripp, founder of online label Discipline Global Mobile and a self-described musician for "42 years, 2 1/2 months," delivered the first day's closing keynote address.

He gazed toward the heavens, held open his upturned hands, and lauded the "irrepressible benevolence of the artistic spirit." He then mentioned that he hasn't seen his King Crimson masters since 1981, and spit on the hotel's carpeted floor.

Later, when Fripp said that "the slave trade didn't go away," a woman in the audience began to cry. Fripp tried to point out the advantages of signing to a major label, but gave up. "If you sign to a major label," the silver-haired rock icon said,"you will get fucked."

The Self-Made Woman: Pamela Ruby Russell, an unsigned, self-described "world-country cabaret songstress," paraded through the Expo in a floppy hat adorned with silk flowers.

She cried during Robert Fripp's presentation. "Labels just don't care about us older gals," she said. "That's why I'm here." A few years ago in a record producer's office, she said, "the producer's secretary told me, "Honey, you're not 17, he doesn't want to talk to you."

So Russell figured she would use the Web and do it herself. "To make it in music, "I've cleaned houses, painted houses, I even rode elephants in a Mexican circus to pay the bills," she said. Relatively speaking, she said, "Using the Internet is easy."

Ricky Who? Ricky Byrd, a former member of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts who was literally wearing rose-colored glasses at one artist's panel, was optimistic about his online future. "Yeah, we're VH-1 where are they now," he said. "But that's a other story." As one of several artists at the conference who hadn't been heard from in a while. [including Kool from Kool and the Gang and the former lead singer of the Gin Blossoms], he was using the Internet to keep in touch with old fans and to build a new fanbase.

"I'm no spring chicken," he said, "so instead of playing clubs and hoping for some guy to show up, I'm glad to have some power back now. I do email lists. Chats. People email me and say, 'I saw you in '83 when I was 5'-- Well, maybe I don't like that."

The Seventies Flashback: Tina Weymouth of the Tom Tom club was one of several older musicians to compare the online music scene to idyllic music scenes of the past. The Internet now reminds her of New York clubs like CBGBs and the Mudd Club in the 70s, she said, "where I could go in and check out Dee Dee Ramone or Patti Smith."

Except, she added, "sometimes, I have no idea that I'm talking with a 16-year-old and I have to be very careful about what I say to minors."

Later, she joked, "The feedback's kept me from suiciding. I mean, I met all these fans out there and realized there are people out there even more desperate than I am."