But the inside story of music in 2007 was the collapse of the CD. Radiohead released In Rainbows for a "pay what you want" digital download. The industry panicked. Record stores—Tower Records, Virgin Megastores—were shuttering. To be inside a record store in 2007 was to walk through a mausoleum. The MP3 player (Zune, iPod Classic) was king. Spotify was two years away from launching in Sweden.
In 2007, the world was still reeling from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the ongoing War on Terror. The United States, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, continued to pursue a policy of pre-emptive strike, invading Iraq in 2003. However, by 2007, the conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular, and Bush announced a surge of troops to try and stabilize the region. inside -2007
Politically, George W. Bush was still president, the Iraq War was grinding into its fifth year, and the 2008 election cycle was just beginning to heat up (Barack Obama announced his candidacy in February 2007). But the most significant story hiding in plain sight was the housing bubble. Inside 2007, subprime mortgage lenders like New Century Financial were collapsing, Bear Stearns was still standing, and few outside of finance realized that the global economy was about to implode. The stock market hit record highs in October — right before the first tremors of what would become the Great Recession. But the inside story of music in 2007