>> "All the music genres froze in place and that was that."

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds like you're saying music hasn't evolved any since the late 1990s. There is an incredible blending of rap, breakbeats, punk, metal, and rock happening as we speak. And that's just the last few years. Places like Bandcamp, Mixcloud, and Beatport are rich with new kinds of music and new takes on the past. Even Soundcloud is still holding on in its bot takeover era.

1996 was the year before MP3.com. Napster two years later.