If a business idea has caught Peter Gabriel's eye, you can be sure it will be influencing consumer behaviour soon. The musician's not just a fan of technological innovation, he's also an astute businessman who knows what's on trend.

David Maher Roberts, serial entrepreneur and chief executive of the Filter, a recommendation and discovery service that filters entertainment to match personal taste, says he's a brilliant investor to have on board. "Peter's really interested in technology and was particularly interested in the filtering aspects of our recommendation engine.

"It married with his vision of the future where we have too much data to contend with and need personal filters. He calls it a life jockey—it serves you new as well as familiar things so that you don't have to go and surf a Web of 10 billion pages."

Companies recommending and personalising digital content appeal to a generation that enjoys accessing and buying things online, and look set to stay. As well as The Filter, Director is following the progress of start-up Fauxshow, a personalised radio show co-founded by former DJs Jules May-Brown and Heidi Secker, and two year-old Idiomag, a personalised music magazine co-founded by Andrew Davies. All are ones to watch.

But do they ring the death knell for traditional media? Maher Roberts doesn't think they'll ever be a complete replacement, as consumers like a mix. But if media companies want to keep up with tech-savvy consumers in this data-hungry age, he adds, they have to move with the times. "I think that traditional media (which are all playing a part digitally anyway) have to start thinking about the best ways to match content with the right people rather than just throwing it into the ether.

"I've always been fascinated with how to pass information from one person or entity on to other people. In the internet age, it's a lot easier because of the smartness of the tools you can build."