TORONTO - Record label layoffs, music store shutdowns and the advent of digital album giveaways marked a tumultuous year in the Canadian music business that's shaken fans, artists and executives alike.
But through all the chaos, music has thrived and fans have taken charge, pointing the way to a wild new frontier that promises to be just as unpredictable in 2008.
"The music business is more alive and more interesting than ever," crooner k.d. lang enthuses as she prepares to unleash a genre-busting album in February.
"I'm certainly more invigorated about music than I have been in many, many years. I think that the Internet has opened up a whole new accessibility into music."
Already, 2008 promises to offer new music from some of the industry's biggest heavyweights, including Coldplay, R.E.M., U2, Green Day, Oasis, Metallica and Gnarls Barkley.
Canadian acts with albums planned for release next year include Hawksley Workman, Jason Collett and Bryan Adams.
Over the course of 2007 - and the past several years, for that matter - the Net has been cast alternately as saviour and curse to the music industry, with digital downloads being blamed for closing record stores and slashing staff at record labels.
Music World is set to close the bulk of its 72 Canadian stores in January after declaring bankruptcy last month, and the retailer's new owners say they will shift focus from music to entertainment products in general.
The move follows the summer collapse of Sam the Record Man, the Canadian chain that closed most of its shops amid increased competition from big-box competitors and online music.
A big factor in the closures was a steep decline in CD sales, with 2007's first quarter seeing revenues drop 35 per cent, according to industry statistics. However, many observers also placed the blame on stores' failure to adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace.
Renowned U.S. record producer Phil Ramone predicts better quality digital formats and new delivery systems on the horizon. He adds that the key to survival for the music business is adaptability.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a change in the industry that doesn't take three to five years," says Ramone, a music industry legend whose diverse collaborations include work with Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder.
"The record business has not given itself a chance to say, 'OK, we acquiesce to this and we could be a part of this industry by serving the country all over the world."'
Among the survivors is the Brit-owned chain HMV, currently undergoing an identity overhaul that in recent weeks has included the addition of iPods and portable speakers to the products on its Canadian shelves. More than half of HMV's business is soon expected to come from non-music sales.
Record labels, meanwhile, began the year with serious belt-tightening, seeing dozens of layoffs at EMI Canada and Sony BMG Music Canada Inc.
"The thing that hit me this year was that within the music business the subject wasn't music - it was the (industry) shakeups," says veteran Toronto-based music journalist Larry LeBlanc.
"The good news this year was some other options came on the plate that weren't there the year before."
Options like Radiohead's digital release of their new disc, "In Rainbows," a controversial move in which they unleashed the music themselves online and invited fans to set the price.
The band has refused to say what fans paid, denying estimates by the online survey company ComScore that roughly 60 per cent of downloaders took the album for free in October, while the rest paid an average of $6.
A CD version of "In Rainbows" hits stores on New Year's Day.
Meanwhile, superstar performer Madonna is charting a new course in career management with a deal with concert promoter Live Nation.
Once she delivers her last disc to Warner Music in April 2008, Madonna will embark on an all-encompassing Live Nation contract that will see the concert promoter's Artist Nation division handle everything related to the Madonna brand - albums, tours, merchandise, film projects and DVDs.
It's a move that even Warner honcho Edgar Bronfman acknowledged was the way of the future, noting recently in a conference call with analysts that the label will no longer sign artists for recorded music revenue only.
Canadian artists can expect similar broad-reaching deals to become more common in this country, says LeBlanc.
"Whether we like it or not, that 360-thinking is coming, and it is in Canada right now," says LeBlanc.
"As much as the majors are talking about 360 deals, the independents in Canada are moving that way, too. And to be really truthful, they have no choice, given the market."
For Ramone, the crux of the matter comes down to providing fans with good music, and he says not enough of that was on offer in 2007.
"You want to have choices and you shouldn't spend your whole savings ... on one record," he says.
"A lot of it is to filter out the songs that are not ready for prime time, in my book."
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFtBX8O40daLulU72nLJsDjb0gvQ
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