The ultimate attention grabber to open up an Unsummit session? Toby Cryns may have nailed it with his Weird Al rap (sorry, I couldn’t get the embed code to work) to open his session titled “Rock and Rock in the Digital Age.”

The topic? The democratization of the music industry.

Toby talked at length about an industry once fiercely controlled by major media outlets that has now been completely democratized. Whereas MTV and radio stations pushed music out the masses in the past, now consumers are getting their music “on demand” through sources like Pandora, iTunes and blip.fm.

In addition, tools like Macs, Garagebands and Audacity have leveled the playing field considerably, according to Cryns. No longer do large labels and recording studios hold all the cards. Now, virtually anyone with a Mac can lay down a track and produce.

And not only have the production tools shifted, but so have the listening devices and tools. With mp3s, iPods and other tools becoming more prevalent by the day, we live in a world where bands success is really only limited by their creativity.

Bands also control their profits like never before. With more control over distribution, access and promotion, bands can go directly to fans in a way they never have before. Just look at what bands like The Donnas and RadioHead are doing.

Or, Weird Al…