If we we all knew that, we'd be doing it James, instead of telling others. Innovations in music, film-making, sound production etc have always come in tandem with new technology. Rock N Roll could not have happened without the electic guitar, synth-pop without the cheap synthesizer, Rapping without the sampling and editing software, The Matrix movie without (whatever video gadgets they use for those FX) etc. etc. Had someone done the s-s-s-sampling effects like stuttering waaaaay back in the 1950s using only a tape recorder .. now THAT would have been inventive! The artistic creativity is almost always inspired by the new technology. So, I guess if you're on a serious quest to forecast what's next, the place you should be looking is not the creatives, but asking the technologists what they will be making possible in the near future, because the tool always has to come first.
If I had to make a personal forecast along creative lines, I would say that things may go Retro big-time. I wouldn't be surprised to hear the classic PAMS type jingles on the radio again, or other nostalgic sounds from bygone eras like R & R, the Pop 60s and even the 20s, simply because they are so much easier to do now. I think we've done the "future" to death, a future that probably won't happen that way anyway. We've been hammering away at this technological sci-fi "future" of robot and computer sounds that I think will remain a dream for a very long time, rather than a near-future reality. I would like to see a return to "style" in all things, and if we have to continue to study the past for inspiration, so be it.
"Doo Wah Diddy K-Hits 96FM Kids! The Hit Parade Station of 2006" 
Author
