Overview

Louis Barfe's elegantly written, authoritative and highly entertaining history charts the meteoric rise and slow decline of the popular recording industry. Barfe shows how the 1920s and 1930s saw the departure of Edison from the phonograph business he created and the birth of EMI and CBS, the arrival of Elvis Presley changed popular music (and sales of popular music) overnight. After Presley came the Beatles, when the recording industry became global and record sales reached all time highs. But the 1990s ushered in a period of profound crisis and uncertainty in the industry, encapsulated in one work: Napster. Barfe shos how the almost infinite amounts of free music available online have traumatic and disastrous consequences for an industry that has become cautious and undynamic.

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9781843540670

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Reviews

'A winner... This wonderful book tells the tale of recorded sound from the very beginning... Louis Barfe tells this tale with wit, accuracy... and an acute awareness of how the machinations of the record world were affected by contemporary social and political events.' Tim Rice, Literary Review 'An amazingly comprehensive history... Barfe writes cleanly and concisely enough to lead the reader through the maze that is the history of the record industry... A real eye-opener.' Doug Johnstone, Scotland on Sunday 'Barfe's comprehensive research is peppered with entertaining anecdotes, while his approach combines a weighty respect for his subject with a healthy dose of cynicism. There will always be music; who owns it is another question.' Metro 'A scholarly yet entertaining tome... ****' Paul Stokes, Q Magazine 'A fascinating expose of the recording industry... An exhilarating read that conjures up the world of those who make recordings, and the commercial realities and pitfalls facing those who produce them... Riveting.' Classic FM Magazine Best Buy

A fascinating expose of the recording industry... An exhilarating read that conjures up the world of those who make recordings, and the commercial realities and pitfalls facing those who produce them... Riveting * Classic FM Magazine * A scholarly yet entertaining tome... **** -- Paul Stokes * Q Magazine * Barfe's comprehensive research is peppered with entertaining anecdotes, while his approach combines a weighty respect for his subject with a healthy dose of cynicism. There will always be music; who owns it is another question. * Metro * An amazingly comprehensive history... Barfe writes cleanly and concisely enough to lead the reader through the maze that is the history of the record industry... A real eye-opener. -- Doug Johnstone * Scotland on Sunday * A winner... This wonderful book tells the tale of recorded sound from the very beginning... Louis Barfe tells this tale with wit, accuracy... and an acute awareness of how the machinations of the record world were affected by contemporary social and political events. -- Tim Rice * Literary Review *

A winner... This wonderful book tells the tale of recorded sound from the very beginning... Louis Barfe tells this tale with wit, accuracy... and an acute awareness of how the machinations of the record world were affected by contemporary social and political events. -- Tim Rice * Literary Review * An amazingly comprehensive history... Barfe writes cleanly and concisely enough to lead the reader through the maze that is the history of the record industry... A real eye-opener. -- Doug Johnstone * Scotland on Sunday * Barfe's comprehensive research is peppered with entertaining anecdotes, while his approach combines a weighty respect for his subject with a healthy dose of cynicism. There will always be music; who owns it is another question. * Metro * A scholarly yet entertaining tome... **** -- Paul Stokes * Q Magazine * A fascinating expose of the recording industry... An exhilarating read that conjures up the world of those who make recordings, and the commercial realities and pitfalls facing those who produce them... Riveting * Classic FM Magazine *

Author Information

Louis Barfe was born in 1973 in Epsom, Surrey. He studied at Lancaster University. He has written for Private Eye, The Oldie, New Statesman and the Independent on Sunday. His books include Where Have All the Good Times Gone: The Rise and Fall of the Record Industry and Turned Out Nice Again: The Story of British Light Entertainment.

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