Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

Simon Napier-Bell

Unbound Books

192 pages, £17.99

The story of the Western music industry: from 1710 when the British Parliament granted writers, including composers and songwriters, copyright over their work, to today, when a worldwide industry worth £100 billion is largely controlled by just three companies—Sony, Universal and Warner. The book is replete with historical anecdotes, such as how a formula for writing hit songs devised in the 1900s spawned over 50,000 of the best-known songs ever. It also offers insight on how the “music industry” became the “song racket,” the “singles business” and then the “record industry,” but is now the “music industry” again.