Artist: the Black Eyed Peas
Producer: Justin Timberlake, U2, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl Cole
He'd be high in the list solely for the huge impact made by the ever-changing sound of the Black Eyed Peas, which manages to simultaneously tap into the zeitgeist and stay one step ahead of it; on top of that, his production work merits a high placing. But William Adams is also busy redefining what an artist should be in the 21st century. An early convert to filesharing, he has declared the album format dead, and seeks to transform the CD of a dozen or so songs from a set-in-stone, finished artefact into the starting point for an ever-growing virtual product. The industry hasn't caught up with him yet – but it will.
