2007 Best & Worst: Music business survival tactics

By Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

As the year rushes to a close, it's time to sift through the mountains of pop culture detritus that have piled up on our computers and in our brains over the last 12 months. Let's try to figure out what worked, what didn't and what's best forgotten by New Year's Day.

Another year and another major decline in CD sales for the music business. But even as CD sales dip, labels and artists continue to find creative ways to try to sell them.

Radiohead, for instance, tried to make money by telling fans they didn’t have to spend a dime. Others opted for comic books.

There was plenty of great music released in 2007, and that’s all reviewed here, and here, but not here. Instead, what follows is a critique of what worked – and what didn’t – when it came to marketing the CD over the past 12 months.