The Business
A History of Popular Music from Sheet Music to Streaming
Let legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music — not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams.
This book describes the evolution of the music industry from 1713 — the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wrote — to today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: how a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen.
Through it all, Napier-Bell balances seductive anecdotes — pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry — with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money.
'The only history of pop music you’ll ever have to read.' — Huffington Post
Simon Napier-Bell has been a film composer, songwriter, record producer, and author, but he is best known for having managed such artists as The Yardbirds, Marc Bolan, Japan and Wham!. Under his management, Wham! became the first Western pop group ever to play in Communist China. He is the author of three other books about the music industry – You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Black Vinyl White Powder and I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch – as well as the forthcoming memoir Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom. He is CEO of the Pierbel Entertainment Group, and continues to consult, write and broadcast on the music industry.
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