Appetite for Self-Destruction

The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age

De: Steve Knopper

Narrado por: Dan John Miller

For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the story of the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades, when the incredible success of the CD turned the music business into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world - and the advent of file sharing brought it to its knees.

In a comprehensive, fast-paced account full of larger-than-life personalities, Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper shows that, after the incredible wealth and excess of the '80s and '90s, Sony, Warner, and the other big players brought about their own downfall through years of denial and bad decisions in the face of dramatic advances in technology.

Based on interviews with more than 200 music industry sources - from Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. to renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning - Knopper is the first to offer such a detailed and sweeping contemporary history of the industry's wild ride through the past three decades.

From the birth of the compact disc, 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 boardrooms, 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.

©2009 Steve Knopper (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

TV is Doom

TV is doom to fail. As a paying customer, I don't give a rat ass on what the providers and the networks are arguing about. I just want the content. Read Appetite for Self-Destruction on what happened to music.

such a great book that covered a lot!

This book answered many questions I've had about CD mp3 and digital content wars, spanning mostly years that I grew up during and was a part of. I only listened to this book because it was assigned for the music industry administration program that I'm beginning this fall 2020 at CSUN. I'm so glad it was and I loved every minute of it.

It was ok.

I think I listened to this too late. It is over 15 years old now and didn’t age well. The parts up to the turn of the century were good, but somewhat oddly delivered, no consistent timeline, but once we got to the 2000s it got way too into the technology weeds and most of its predictions were off.

Accurate

Having worked in and watched the record industry over the past 35 years, I can say that this book hits the problem on the head. While it's not really a problem for us consumers, it's what my current friends in the business are dealing with. Trying to get and stay rich as they did in the old days.

I could envision people I know in the industry throughout this listen. Even, unfortunately, the ones who have lost their jobs as a result of the digital revolution.

Awesome Book

This is an awesome book about the music business, where it's been, and where it's going. A lot of deep dark secrets are revealed here in how the corporatization of rock 'n roll corrupted the music, ripped off the performers, cheated the fans, and battled the technology that threatened corporate profiteering. Robert Johnson may have made a deal with the devil at the crossroads, but our favorite musicians and singers didn't do much better with the record label companies. Those who were lucky enough to be "signed" found themselves in a corporate profit machine, manufacturing music as a product. First it was 45s and LPs. Then came CDs. We consumers made those corporate devils rich. But this is changing as we speak. So before you buy another CD, get this book. If you're a musician, composer, or performer, this book is a must read for your future.