It's that time of year again. . .

A year from now, one of you will use this column against me. Here, one of Discotheque's eagle- eyed readers will say, you didn't have a clue what you were talking about. What the hell ever happened to all those things you predicted were going to happen? You didn't really think that Brian McFadden was going to play Slane, did you?

Well, did you? January is a terrible, terrible month. Thirty-one long days made worse by columnists scrambling to fill space by thinking it's cool to predict what's going to happen in the coming 12 months. We spent December looking back and we'll spend January looking forward. Come back in February, it will be back to normal then.

Still, it's part of the job so we will do it. We will not flinch from the task in hand. We will not turn the other cheek and do a column about the Irish music industry or radio. We will not write another piece on Irish singer - songwriters and risk the ire of all the hippies out there. No, we will smile, we will hitch up the bottoms of our trousers and we will jump right in. Splash!

Here's an easy prediction: the music industry will continue to whine and whinge about downloads, the Internet, free CDs and anything else they can find. As in 2004, however, most of us will ignore them. After all, if the industry continues to make short-term deals which add a few quid to the balance sheet and further debase the value of music, why should we take their complaints seriously?

When the music chiefs are not bellyaching, they will be yakking. Expect a lot of yak (yes, probably too much yak) about Snocap being the future of peer-to-peer networks. Don't be surprised either when the music industry begins to instigate alliances rather than lawsuits with various peer-to-peer outlaws. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

By the end of this month, one of the albums of the year will be in your hands. It's called The Secret Migration and it will show that Mercury Rev's exploration of music's outer space is still uncovering new things to wonder at. There are also new albums that you may or may not drool over on the way in the first three months of the year from Lemon Jelly, the Chemical Brothers, Doves, Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem and Röyksopp.

There are, as always, a plethora of new names eager to become your new best friend. It is at this point that we take a sharp intake of breath, put our money on the table and name some names.

One of these will surely be Jem, the Welsh lass whose Finally Woken album is the missing link between Portishead and Beth Orton and who is already the toast of those who pick the music for The OC.

Then, there's The Game, a gruff streetwise LA rapper who has Dr Dre in his corner and "the new 50 Cent" tag around his neck. You may also find yourself talking knowledgeably over sushi about John Legend, the first signing to Kanye West's new Good label whose début album may or may not be the most soulful thing you will hear this year.

Further delights will come your way from Bloc Party (spikey punk-pop pravda for the masses with their forthcoming Silent Alarm record), Micah P Hinson (we're calling him the new Will Oldham) and The Magic Numbers (you will swoon and you will sigh).

We will also be waiting to see what Lisa Hannigan does. She's paid her dues as Damien Rice's backing singer, so the time is nigh for her to cut a solo dash. Should that happen, expect this one to perhaps even eclipse what Rice has done to date.

But, of course, the year may well be dominated by such as the Secret Machines, The Radio or Republic of Loose, acts who emerged all guns blazing in 2004 with fine début albums and who will keep on shooting into the new year. Let's round up the horses in December and see who lived the high life.