This being the final day of panels at the annual CMJ Music Marathon, it seemed the opportune time to make my way over to Manhattan's Washington Square and actually sit in on one. Fortunately, one was called "2007: The Year in Technology." I thought that would do nicely.

The panel was moderated by Wired's Mark McClusky, who was flanked by Bruce Taylor of SnoCap, Bill Rosenblatt of GiantSteps, Mark Malek of JamNow, and Gizmodo's Wilson Rothman.

The discussion's title turned out to be, not surprisingly, something of a misnomer. Anyone expecting to hear an overview of this year's technological breakthroughs was in the wrong room. Instead, the panel was content to discuss the ways in which technology will shape the future of the music industry; this was, after all, a CMJ panel. Find a few of the discussion's highlights after the jump.

Bruce Taylor: Technology is giving artists the opportunity to sell music via their MySpace profiles. That's where artists are connecting with fans. Now can sell directly to the fans. The more clicks you put between fans and music, the more attrition you get. This technology is giving the artists and fans direct communication.

The biggest challenge that artists have is doing the marketing. People are taking the record labels out of the mix. This is enabling viral communication. Build it and tell your fans to buy.

Mark Malek: We're seeing that the intimate relationship between fans and artists is becoming all-important. People want to buy directly from the artists. The intimacy is what it's all about. Artists are leaving these big record labels. Critical to their success is what the fans think. That sort of intimacy is what MySpace enables. They want to buy it on the homepage. The artists are making shifts in their craft, based on what the fans are saying.

Bill Rosenblatt: [This is the] Internet version of going up to a band and buying records from them at a show. People understand that iTunes is a record store. The model I like best is the subscription model. The record labels have not done anything to market this. They're not very experienced with direct interaction with consumers. Subscription services are growing at 100 percent, year over year. Not as much as iTunes or LimeWire, but [they are] growing.

Wilson Rothman: A lot of these technologies have become possible because of DRM-free music. DRM is shifting to subscriptions. Napster was positioned as competing with iTunes.

BR: Record labels want to get out from under the thumb of Steve Jobs. Amazon is the company to do that.

Malek: It's not about monetizing music. Artists are happy to give away music, because there are other ways to monetize it. iTunes is the old school trying to fit into the new world. Artists would do this for free[?!].

Tools are about allowing artists to take it back. I've been saying that the artists want to make money all along. iTunes is the best place for Norah Jones, but not for all of the rest of us who are trying to be Norah Jones.

BR: I happen to miss 12-inch-square cover art. The CD jewel case doesn't do it for me, but I think that physical products will go away.

Malek: To my mind, "physical" is different things to different generations. The physical thing is just another piece of merchandise. People will buy it because they want to consume everything by the artist.

BR: Radio stations are taste reflectors. Back when I was high school, radio was a taste-maker. The value [of college radio stations] is in the curatorial function. Our station just had its first on-air fund drive. They do value certain programming. That's a curatorial function.

The panelists are asked what they believe is the most important technological breakthrough of the past year.

BT: One of the most advancing is the embeddable widget.

BR: I think widgets are very important. I'd have to say, with some reservation, recommendation engines. Pandora sucks the least. I'm a little skeptical, but I think it could be the big breakthrough.

McClusky: Discovery to me is the next frontier. Pandora is the thing that has helped me find new artists.

Malek: The Internet [the whole thing...].

WR: The lifting of DRM from online retail. For the labels, it's been a lifting of Steve Jobs's grip on them.