Download: How Digital Destroyed the Record Business

by Phil Hardy

Overview

This fascinating book chronicles the making of the new record industry, from the boom years of the CD revolution of the late 1980s to the crisis of the present day, with particular stress on the last decade.

The CD revolution was a bonanza for the record industry. The new digital medium attracted sales in its own right and existing material could now be re-packaged and resold with huge profit margins.

Sales grew, but then the pirates moved in, exploiting the medium by making perfect copies. When the legitimate paid-for download finally arrived courtesy of Apple in 1993, it soon became clear that the Californian company's sole aim was to sell iPods.

The fortunes of the content owners were of little interest to them and so the record companies found themselves parting with individual tracks for pennies instead of whole albums for pounds.

Phil Hardy's book explains how, in a few short years, the long-established record industry became an irrelevance as its slow-moving executives were comprehensively outmanoeuvred by a generation of outsiders who fully understood the new technology and the new market it had created.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780386140
Publisher:	Omnibus Press
Publication date:	06/01/2013
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Phil Hardy is a noted music industry journalist.  He has written for Time Out, Variety and other publications and acted as a consultant on music business issues for bodies such as the Greater London Enterprise board and the World Bank.  He was the founding editor of Music and Copyright, offering news and analysis on the international music industry.

Hardy publishes and edits the online newsletter theviewfromtheboundary.  He has written or edited several books on music and film.  He is also the chief editor and contributing writer to The Aurum Film Encyclopedia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements v

Beginnings vii

Chapter 1 The CD Boom 1

Chapter 2 Seeking To Monetize Intellectual Property: The First Rise And Fall Of EMI 10

Chapter 3 The Creation Of WMG 26

Chapter 4 Would You Like To Dance? EMI And WMG 43

Chapter 5 Bertelsmann Gets Itchy Feet 64

Chapter 6 Profit Warnings From EMI 76

Chapter 7 Mostly Digital 95

Chapter 8 A Revolution In Retailing 114

Chapter 9 Digital Problems Galore 130

Chapter 10 The Conglomerates Think Again About The Music Business 146

Chapter 11 The Rise And Fall Of Sony BMG 161

Chapter 12 WMG, The Bronfman Era 183

Chapter 13 EMI Finds Independence Lonely 204

Chapter 14 Transforming EMI: The Hands Era, Part One 217

Chapter 15 Battling Citigroup, The Hands Era, Part Two 243

Chapter 16 Hopes For The Future, Legislation And New Business Plans 262

Chapter 17 Rush To Market: The Sale Of WMG And EMI 290

Chapter 18 Battling The Regulators 316

Endings 344