A Look Back At Our Music Industry Predictions For 2007
As the the year draws to an end and I begin work on my predictions for 2008, I thought I’d take a look back at the predictions for 2007. Below is an unedited reposting.
Tell us what your music industry predictions are for 2008.
2007 will be the year that the mp3 format will gain much greater acceptance from record labels. Consumer dissatisfaction is growing daily, but the real action will begin in March when the new Amazon download store launches and gain momentum throughout the year.- The mp3 momentum will hurt iTunes but not effect iPod sales which will remain very
strong through 2007. - Napster will finally run out of money and be sold at a bargain basement price.
- It will be a good time to own an indie record label as majors labels, investment firms, and even some tech companies go shopping.
- The other major labels will follow WMG’s lead and start trying to sound and act like tech start-ups.
- Touring will continue to gain in importance both for income and promotion.
- Tight profit margins force consolidation within the download distribution sector.
- More artists at all levels and in all genres will go D.I.Y. and direct to the fans and the cottage industry to facilitate this transition will boom.
Share your predictions for 2008.
Share on:
Here are some 2008 predictions:
Lyor Cohen will “resign”.
Warner Bros. and Reprise Records’ staffs will be combined and together will see a resurgence.
Rick Rubin will “resign”.
Jason Flom will get demoted.
MySpace Records will fold.
Roadrunner will continue to dilute its brand.
Island/IDJMG will focus on Pop and Urban music ONLY.
Publishing companies will follow in the footsteps of Chrysalis and Sony/ATV and provide marketing, promotion and physical/digital distro for developing artists.
Be on the lookout for multiple independent film/TV music pitching services.
Smart managers will demand budgets from labels which would allow them to out-source additional promotion, film/TV pitching, online marketing services (on top of what the label is doing).
Sanctuary Management will rise to prominence.
Amazon’s MP3 Download store will grow, but not as much as people are predicting.
Rhapsody’s business will double.
CDBaby’s business will double.
TuneCore’s business will triple.
Sirius and XM WON’T merge in 2008. Maybe 2009.
Slacker.com will either do really well…or close up shop.
Imeem.com will either do really well…or close up shop.
Verizon and Nokia will unleash new phone technology to rival the iPhone.
We7.com will close up shop.
7digital.com will either be sold or will close up shop.
Ten Alternative radio stations will change format.
Five “Jack”-themed stations will flip format.
Terrestrial radio will embrace the internet in ways it never has before.
Music sites to watch: thesixtyone.com, novatunes.com, grooveshark.com.
Great stuff and some bold predictions. But some of them… Why are you so down on 7Digital?
Not completely down on 7Digital…Here’s what they can do to succeed in ’08:
SERIOUS consumer marketing to help build awareness (Dad knows about itunes and just saw that Amazon sells MP3s now too, but doesn’t know what 7digital is. The kiddies who DO know about 7digital also know about LimeWire.)
Make the site sexier — it hurts the eyes!
Pray that DRM goes away all together in ’08.
Partner with a site other than last.fm — that shit is awful.
Develop a better system for music discovery.
Did we mention to make the site look sexier? OOF!
Interesting timing I started working on my 2008 predictions a few weeks ago. To see my 2007 predictions you can look at http://blog.timelineonline.org/2007/01/netvalar-predicts-end-for-2007.html
You will notice I got a few correct I was actually surprised. I can’t wait to finish the 2008 list and then see next year how many I get right. I’ll come back and give you the list for 2008 predictions once I finish (hopefully tonight)
Here are 2 of my predictions for the music industry I also threw a link to all 7 predictiond of 2008 though no tall of them are music industry based.
1)With the recent throw out of Limewire’s case against the RIAA and the current technology making it mute. Limewire will file a new lawsuit in regards to its customers privacy.
4)Due to I-Squad.com not getting their act together widget apps will begin to come out with all the tools for musicians to customize their own fan club/street team builder along similar lines to I-Squad.com, usable on social networking sites.
http://blog.timelineonline.org/2007/12/musi-c-predictions-for-2008.html
Love some of the above predictions…definitely a few I share. Here are my 2008 predictions too.