This idea has come about through two specific Trends, and how they co-encide with one-another.
Have you ever noticed... in a large amount of films and television programs, how the future is always presented in a similar manner?
What strikes me is the obsession of film-makers to present the music of the future as a form of space-related opera, formed to the beats of modern day electronica (which is often based on recycled funk.
My two primary examples are Plunkett & Macleane (the dancing in the ampitheatre to beat-fused baroque), and The fifth element (the Operatic groove), although you'll find there are hundreds of other films that adhere to this loose guideline.
My secondary point is that a large proportion of current (Early 2001) Chart-topping manufactured pop groups have acquired extensive symphonic production skills, probably due to the abundance of quality midi tools now available, as well as the immurgence of Cubase VST computer based instruments and digital recording studios.
The music that these production methods produce, is similar in characteristics to the formulae described above. We see Mya shaking her booty to a symphony of strings, laid over a bed of a well-filtered Bernard 'Prettie' Purdie drumloop, Madonna has had a go at orchestra based music, thanks to the Symphonic preferences of william Orbit and Destiny's Child won't put their vocals against anything other than a minimalism-bound baroque masterpiece.
Music has met the future (and it's sure heavily produced!)