It's really like saying "is there a past for modern music?" By that I mean, everything we call traditional was modern once.

I seriously think that the tendency for the future is going to be for the break up of monolithic mass popular culture. That's is likely to mean the continued developemnt of lots of little separate musical traditions. At the same time were going to get a sort of globalisation, with the musical elements coming from far away as likely as near.

Mudcat demonstrates both these processes in action, at a very early stage.

If I think about where the music I am involved in comes from, mostly it's from people I play with, and from people we've seen and heard at festivals, and from the records we've bought after listening to them and being impressed. (And increasigly stuff I've come across by people on the Mudcat). And for any bunch of musicians meeting up to play on a regular basis, that kind of thing makes up the basis of a tradition.