How Music Got Free by Stephen Richard Witt

An encyclopedically thorough timeline/bio A deep and illuminating dive into the biology and psychology of hit songs.ĭavid Bowie: Any Day Now, the London Years 1947–74 by Kevin Cann. A clear-eyed look at a much-maligned music-biz genius. Long but very entertaining and insightful even for non-superfans.Īllen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones, and Transformed Rock & Roll by Fred Goodman. The Director Emeritus at the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC, Taplin argues these large technology companies “have stymied innovation on a broad scale.”īorn to Run by Bruce Springsteen. Move Fast Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermine Democracy by Jonathan Taplin. Rolling Stone called Springsteen’s book an “utterly unique, endlessly exhilarating, last-chance-power-drive of a memoir.” No, not the Born to Run book about running, although that comes with my recommendation. This deservedly received glowing reviews.īorn to Run by Bruce Springsteen. A well-reported, fascinating look at the digital revolution in music. Written by the professor who coined the phrase “net neutrality.” A history of advertising from its beginnings through today’s attention economy. The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble To Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu. Highly recommended for people interested in the way data will shape digital entertainment in the coming years.

A book about data written by two college professors with consulting experience that inform the insights. Big Data & the Future of Entertainment by Michael D. If you’re looking a place to start, consider a handful of titles with multiple appearances on readers’ lists: (Has anybody made a resolution to read more in 2018?) Hopefully this list spurs you to spend more time being informed and entertained by the written word. It seems that most people have a desire to read more but lack the time. You should be able to find something you’d like. The responses are a diverse list of titles about technology, music biographies, entertainment, popular science, and various works of both fiction and non-fiction. This cycle will continue for the foreseeable future.

Since the original article, I’ve returned to many contributors to ask for a new batch of recommended titles. I’m doing what I can to update regularly and refresh the book titles.

I reached out to people around the music business and asked them for titles of books they’re reading, or have been reading, and what they’d like to recommend to people. Time to put your Amazon gift cards to good use. Some have nothing to do with either music or technology. You’ll probably find something of interest.

How Music Got Free by Stephen Richard Witt