As a keen musicologist with around 2,000 CDs and 80,000 digital songs, I have mixed views of the Music Industry. On the one hand I absolutely understand, and respect the view that artists are due the right payment or royalty for their work. On the other hand, and as this book reveals, the Industry itself as screwed up time after time when it comes to developing, monetizing and protecting music in its varied formats.Cleverly borrowing from (pirating?) the Guns N' Roses tune, this book covers what it calls "The spectacular crash of the record industry in the digital age". It's not the easiest read on the shelf - too many names, dates, meetings and opposing views of the same business opportunities - but it is a vivid account of an ongoing mess.
Having already bought and lost hundreds of thousands of songs in varied formats - vinyl, 8-track, reel-to-reel tape, cassette, CD and now iPod-compatible - the record / music industry has made tens of thousands of dollars out of me.
Do they care? Do they hell.
So, when quarter after quarter, year end after year end, music industry execs comment about digital music sales while whining about how much more it could have been if no-one pirated that music, I focus on how soon it'll be before they force me to buy my music all over again.
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