2003 has been one of the strangest music years I can remember, and one where the record companies definitely ‘left the best to last.’ It was the first time that a TV talent content actually produced a distinctive and outstanding talent in Alex Parks. It was a year when releases in the first six months were the weakest I can remember. It was the year that The White Stripes and The Darkness finally broke through big time. It was the year that CD pricing resembled a wildly bouncing yo-yo with the supermarket chains and Amazon selling popular albums at well below £10, while the major music chains were all over the place. It was the year that major acts began to exploit the Internet to offer cheap single downloads and gig ticket sales, with major success. It was a year when singles and albums achieved high charting positions with the smallest ever sales, and a goth rock single stayed in the chart forever. It was the year that free CDs were regulalarly given away by every national newspaper. It was the year that Robbie Williams secured the biggest record deal ever for a reported, and astounding £80 million. It was the year that Mike Peters of The Alarm performed a 2-day acoustic marathon, and after each of the 8 sessions had recordings copied and packaged for his fans to buy. And it was the year that I finally turned off radio and terrestrial TV music programming in frustration.

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