The only history of pop music youll ever have to read. Huffington Post
Let legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular musicnot just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams.
This book describes the evolution of the music industry from 1713the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wroteto today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: how a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen.
Through it all, Napier-Bell balances seductive anecdotespulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industrywith an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money.
