That was some rollercoaster of a year.

Editorial Robert Ashton

HERE IT COMES. 2009. Wonder what it has in store? A good few surprises, no doubt. Let's hope so. Surprise is this industry's raison d'etre: the surprise at unearthing new talent and the thrill of hearing their music.

But let's hope we don't get so many of the nasty shocks we felt at the end of '08, when Zavvi, Woolworths and Pinnacle all fell in the space of a few short weeks.

That was horrible, and the impact of their collapse is still being felt. The thousands who have lost their jobs won't have enjoyed such a good Christmas, nor will those who relied on them for business.

But, as the old saying goes, bad news comes in threes. Hopefully that is it for now and, with the collapse of those companies coming late last year, we can see 2009 as a period for healing and rebuilding.

Many of our industry leaders are already doing just that. They have been attempting to remodel and reshape the business and, for many, this year is going to be a make-or-break one for delivering on a whole range of issues; providing new ways of thinking and new ways of doing business.

By the end of the 2009 we will know whether the industry has been successful at engineering a digital music business, has recovered from the blows to retailing and distribution and can provide leadership to other industries on green issues.