For the past three years, bad news about the music industry has been as steady as a synthesized drumbeat. But a turnaround that began quietly last autumn has become unmistakable with the success of Norah Jones’s new album, “Feels Like Home.” The CD, which recently sold more than a million copies in its first week in stores, helped extend a nearly consistent five-month string of industry growth, as measured by weekly sales compared with year-earlier periods. So why are so few people in the music world ready to celebrate an industry comeback?
The past four or five months has turned the predictive ability of all of us on its head,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst with the firm Sanford C. Bernstein. “I think people are holding their breath.”[more @ www.iht.com]