Product Description For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the epic 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.
Big Music has been asleep at the wheel ever since Napster revolutionized the way music was distributed in the 1990s. Now, because powerful people like Doug Morris and Tommy Mottola failed to recognize the incredible potential of file-sharing technology, the labels are in danger of becoming completely obsolete. Knopper, who has been writing about the industry for more than ten years, has unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world's highs and lows. Based on interviews with more than two hundred 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.
With unforgettable portraits of the music world's mighty and formerly mighty; detailed accounts of both brilliant and stupid ideas brought to fruition or left on the cutting-room floor; the dish on backroom schemes, negotiations, and brawls; and several previously unreported stories, Appetite for Self-Destruction is a riveting, informative, and highly entertaining read. It offers a broad perspective on the current state of Big Music, how it got into these dire straits, and where it's going from here -- and a cautionary tale for the digital age.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and Educational; Great Business-School Case January 6, 2009 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Appetite for Self-Destruction" reports the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades - from the incredible success of the CD to its failure to effectively handle file-sharing via the Internet.
LPs had been selling at top prices of $8.98 for years; the new CD technology provided an opportunity to sell for almost $8 more, with artists getting only 6 cents more (from 75 cents to 81). Record companies had all the power, and used the excuse that CD manufacturing cost more because lots of scrap was created. This was true - for about the first six months.
CBS and Sony converted a Terre Haute facility that opened in 1984 with a capacity of 300,000 CDs/month; 20 years later it was producing 850,000 CDs and 1.1 million DVDs/day. In 1983, CDs made the U.S. record industry $17.2 million; this rose to $103 million in 1984 and $12.8 billion in 1999.
Twelve-inch cardboard boxes were originally used to sell (cost 24 cents/) - purpose was to prevent theft and avoid stores needing to buy new display racks ($8-$10,000). This was eventually killed by giving half the savings to the stores.
The CD boom lasted from 1984 to 2000; first year sales were 5.8 million, the last year's was 942 million.
PC manufacturers were exempted from anti-copying legislation (owners could back up data as much as they wanted) in the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. Before long, mass retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart would account for about 2/3 CDs sold in the U.S.; Tower Records and Musicland went bankrupt.
Online song swapping began with uncompressed files that used 1.5 megabits/second of song and dial-up connections. MP3 cut file sizes by about 90%. Then came Napster
The main challenge of running Napster at first was making certain the servers kept up with demand - by 19'7'99 it had 150,000 registered users. The music industry's lawsuit generated enormous added publicity, and by July 2000 almost 20 million Napster users were on board. Napster, however, lost the lawsuit because an internal email proved management knew the transferred music files were pirated. Napster appealed, lost, and went bankrupt in 2002.
Apple, in 2001, blew the lid off the recording industry with its iPod and iTunes. No longer did buyers have to purchase a disc-full of songs - they now could buy just the individual songs they wanted. Steve Jobs claims Apple's low market share (about 5%) helped the record companies make the move, believing that "not that much could happen."
Apple claims total sales in the billions, availability of 10 million songs at prices of 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29 each, with volume discounts, file management, some file-sharing, sale prices, and some freebies. And now there are other Internet sales sources as well; meanwhile, major retailers (eg. Best Buy, Wal-Mart) have reduced the space given to marketing CDs.
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