Description
'Even with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, the failure of the leading record labels to grasp the implications of the internet seem extraordinary. As Steve Knopper, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, explains in this pacy account of corporate greed and myopia, they certainly had enough warning'
'[Knopper's] mix of interviews, analysis and insider gossip makes for a lively tale of corporate greed, egoism and panic'
Metro 11/6
'Knopper paints a damning picture of an arrogant business, completely out of step with technology and its consumers, trying everything from copy-protection to litigation to strangle the digital genie' Word magazine, July issue
[Knopper’s] conclusion that CDs sparked a boom time in the ‘80s and ‘90s that record men thought would never end might not be headline news, but his research is exhaustive (more than 200 interviews) and the result is an absorbing read peppered with amusing anecdotes illustrating how woefully complacent the major labels were, such as the meeting when one executive asked the residential digital music expert how to fix his cable TV connection. A funny and authoritative book’ Q magazine August issue
‘Appetite ForSelf-Destruction chronicles the corporate rivalries, technological hubris, myopic greed and lamentable customer relations that led to the recent plummet in profits from recorded music;
Guardian 1/8
‘Knopper’s excellent account of the record industry’s failure to adapt to the digital age is the best of a clutch of recent books that address the changing face of music’
Financial Times 8/8
‘Rolling Stone staffer Knopper’s account of the last 25 years of the record business is a cautionary tale of mind-bogglingly myopic blundering, told with a caustic appreciation of the giant eggs involved’
‘Books of the Year’, The Sunday Times 6/12
'[Knopper's] mix of interviews, analysis and insider gossip makes for a lively tale of corporate greed, egoism and panic'
Metro 11/6
'Knopper paints a damning picture of an arrogant business, completely out of step with technology and its consumers, trying everything from copy-protection to litigation to strangle the digital genie' Word magazine, July issue
[Knopper’s] conclusion that CDs sparked a boom time in the ‘80s and ‘90s that record men thought would never end might not be headline news, but his research is exhaustive (more than 200 interviews) and the result is an absorbing read peppered with amusing anecdotes illustrating how woefully complacent the major labels were, such as the meeting when one executive asked the residential digital music expert how to fix his cable TV connection. A funny and authoritative book’ Q magazine August issue
‘Appetite ForSelf-Destruction chronicles the corporate rivalries, technological hubris, myopic greed and lamentable customer relations that led to the recent plummet in profits from recorded music;
Guardian 1/8
‘Knopper’s excellent account of the record industry’s failure to adapt to the digital age is the best of a clutch of recent books that address the changing face of music’
Financial Times 8/8
‘Rolling Stone staffer Knopper’s account of the last 25 years of the record business is a cautionary tale of mind-bogglingly myopic blundering, told with a caustic appreciation of the giant eggs involved’
‘Books of the Year’, The Sunday Times 6/12
Présentation de l'éditeur
In an engaging, fast-paced, up-close-and-personal narrative, Appetite for
Self-Destruction recounts the music industry's wild 30-year ride through the digital age. Based on interviews with over 200 music industry sources-from Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. to renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning-as well as assiduous research in legal documents, unpublished memoirs, Billboard reports, and so on, Steve Knopper, a regular contributor to Rolling Stone, offers a contemporary history of big music that is more comprehensive and entertaining than any other book out there. From the birth of the compact disk, through the explosion of CD sales in the 80s and 90s, the emergence of Napster, and the secret talks that led to ITunes, to the current collapse of the industry as CD sales plummet, Knopper takes us inside the board rooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, company jets, corporate infighting, and secret deals of the big names and behind-the-scenes players who made it all happen.
Self-Destruction recounts the music industry's wild 30-year ride through the digital age. Based on interviews with over 200 music industry sources-from Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. to renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning-as well as assiduous research in legal documents, unpublished memoirs, Billboard reports, and so on, Steve Knopper, a regular contributor to Rolling Stone, offers a contemporary history of big music that is more comprehensive and entertaining than any other book out there. From the birth of the compact disk, through the explosion of CD sales in the 80s and 90s, the emergence of Napster, and the secret talks that led to ITunes, to the current collapse of the industry as CD sales plummet, Knopper takes us inside the board rooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, company jets, corporate infighting, and secret deals of the big names and behind-the-scenes players who made it all happen.
