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Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You Hear Sucks

Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You Hear Sucks
By Hank Bordowitz

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Product Description

For disgruntled music fans wondering why music played on the radio is not only worse now than in the past but also not nearly as revelatory as it once was, this book presents a detailed discussion of how the record business fouled its own livelihood. This insightful dissection covers numerous aspects of the industry's failures and shortcomings, including why stockholders play an important role, how radio went from an art to a science and what was lost in that change, how the record companies alienated their core audience, why file sharing might not be the bogeyman that the record industry would have people think, technology’s effects on what and how music is heard, and dozens of other reasons that add up to the record industry’s current financial and artistic woes. With eye-opening observations culled from extensive interviews, this exposé offers insights into how this multi-billion-dollar industry is run and why it’s losing so much money.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #421943 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-01-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 352 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Music journalist Bordowitz (Turning Points in Rock and Roll) delivers a concise summary of the current state of the record business, with fascinating details delivered in a no-frills style ("The RIAA has compared the practice of downloading songs 'without permission' to shoplifting, but whose permission do the downloaders need?"). Unless you are a Britney Spears fan, Bordowitz presents a fairly convincing argument that current music "sucks" by looking at "how the system that turned music into a commodity ultimately failed, trivializing its product and the user of that product." He presents an inside look at how the music business works, from artist management to production and distribution, as well as current music technology. And a section on "The Messy Suicide of Commercial Radio" is an excellent overview of the change over the last three decades from the free-form radio formats of the 1960s to the homogenized niche corporate radio stations of the '90s and today. In the end, this is an eye-opening look at why, as Bordowitz quotes music mogul David Geffen, "If Joni Mitchell were just starting out today,... she'd have trouble getting radio air play." (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"An accurate and well-researched exposé of the surreptitious, undisclosed, and covert activities of the music industry."   —Tony Bongiovi, producer


"To understand how recorded and broadcast music arrived at their sorry state, this is the book to read."  —Larry Fast, keyboardist for Peter Gabriel and Foreigner


"Brilliantly written, insightful, a good history, and a great read."  —Jack Ponti, songwriter, producer, manager, and record company president


"This is the book that any one who once did time in the music business wish we had written."  —Hugo Burnham, drummer for Gang of Four, former manager and major-label A&R executive


"Engaging and enlightening . . . a solid primer to today’s Byzantine music industry."  —Billboard

About the Author

Hank Bordowitz is a veteran music journalist, a former recording artist, a music business consultant, an adjunct professor, and the author of seven critically hailed books, including Bad Moon Rising, Billy Joel, Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright, and Turning Points of Rock and Roll.

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for Music Fans & Musicians5
I came across this book at my local library. After looking through it, I decided to check it out. This book, written by someone who works in the music biz is a must read for not only musicians but music lovers as well.

The author, a veteran of the music biz shows why music sales are down & why blame for that goes to the music biz itself. From forcing VERY bad music down our throats to briding radio stations to play this music. Also forcusing only on the youth despite the fact that they make up only a small % of those who actually buy music (fact is most music buyers are older folks & 60% of all music sales are back-log catalog or reissues). It's not surprising that people have either stopped buying music altogether or go online to look for the music they want.

Broadacst radio is also in the same boat as we see more & fewer stations
being owned by fewer and fewer owners, there's a decrease in musical diversity on-air. Thus causing an exdous of people towards satelle & internet radio.

Then there's the record companies screwing over their artists. One artist in the book went from going Gold (selling half a million copies) to flipping burgers.

I can keep going, but you're find out more in the book. Also "The label: the story of Columbia Records" by Gary Marmorstein is also worth reading.




MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT UNVEILED4
IN READING "DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS OF THE RECORD BUSINESS" I COULDN'T HELP MAKE THE CONNECTION TO DON BRUNS'S FICTION SERIES, FEATURING MICK SEVER, A MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST. SO MANY OF THE FICTIONAL ADVENTURES IN BRUNS'S SERIES RELATE TO HANK BORDOWITZ'S NON FICTION, EYE-OPENING INSIGHTS. THE LATEST BRUNS' MYSTERY, "ST BARTS BREAKDOWN", SEEMS LIKE IT'S RIGHT OUT OF CURRENT EVENTS. FOR ANY ONE INTERESTED IN THE UNSEEMLY OR SEEDY SIDE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, I'D RECOMMEND "DIRTY SECRETS" AND "ST BARTS BREAKDOWN".

A Shot In The Foot5
Scam, scam, scam, one cut sounds good, on a CD of say ten cuts, and then things like "Junk Music" you know electronic this, and electronic that, and bogus lyrics about nonsense subjects. Then there comes the lyrics that are outrageous, where women are refered to as bit**hes and hos', the kind of thing that got Imus fired. So let us also fire the recording excutives who allow these lyrics to be in the music in the first place. No matter how one tries one cannot justify the constant use of these terms. For artistic expression, or otherwise. So no wonder people go to the internet to download their music just to get what they want, and leave the fill in garbage behind. The recording industry has indeed shot itself in both feet, and instead of looking at itself, they blame everyone else. Including the public they have so misused over the years.

Here is a book turning back the veil and giving everyone a look see at what lies beneath. All the scams, aganist the artists, and the buying public as well. Then there is something called market friendly music, somewhat cookie cutter music, instead of the true expressions of the artists. Recording excutives telling you what you want to listen to instead of music which may or may not determine how long said artist's career will be.

Let us not speak of independant recording companies, there are very, very few, if any they are all owned by Universal, Sony, or some other big company. Again designed to have absolute control.

Thinking of a recording career make this book a must read, to give you a heads up.