Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age

by Steve Knopper

Book Overview

For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the epic story of the precipitous rise and fall of the modern recording industry, from an author who has been writing about it for more than ten years. With unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world's highs and lows--including Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr., renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning, and more than 200 others--Steve Knopper is the first to offer...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593762690
• ISBN13: 9781593762698
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Catapult
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Better than the competition

Having also read the recent "Ripped" by Greg Kot, which covers the same subject, I award this one the prize. It's more comprehensive and the author interviewed many more of the players who have changed the recorded music market for the worse over the past 10 years. It's a grim tale and there is no happy ending unless you are Steve Jobs who managed to almost corner the digital download market for his iPod, a tool that is overpriced and not good sounding enough. Those who mourn the death of albums, and/or cds, should read this to learn why it is now becoming almost impossible to find recorded music for sale in anything but the sonically inferior mp3 format. Gggrrrrrrr ....

Lessons FOr All Businesses

Mr. Knopper, you NAILED it! I was there, working along side of many of the folks you mentioned. I love the fact that you told the whole story. The good and the bad. Most writers only want to write about what the music business did wrong. There's plenty of blame to go around but there are also a great deal of smart, hard working people that are losing their jobs. Some of this could have been avoided. Sadly, most of it could not.

Must-read for anyone who cares about music culture

In the sub-sub-genre of books about rock music and the industry, I rank this right up there with classics like "Hit Men" and "The Death of Rhythm and Blues." We think in terms of "industry," but through his deftly drawn portraits of industry leaders, Knopper helps us see clearly how we got to here from there: simple bad decision making and a blatant refusal to consider, first, that the world had changed and then a stunning lack of curiosity about how it had changed. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

Interesting and Educational; Great Business-School Case

"Appetite for Self-Destruction" reports the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades - from the incredible success of the CD to its failure to effectively handle file-sharing via the Internet. LPs had been selling at top prices of $8.98 for years; the new CD technology provided an opportunity to sell for almost $8 more, with artists getting only 6 cents more (from 75 cents to 81). Record companies had all the power, and used the excuse that CD manufacturing cost more because lots of scrap was created. This was true - for about the first six months. CBS and Sony converted a Terre Haute facility that opened in 1984 with a capacity of 300,000 CDs/month; 20 years later it was producing 850,000 CDs and 1.1 million DVDs/day. In 1983, CDs made the U.S. record industry $17.2 million; this rose to $103 million in 1984 and $12.8 billion in 1999. Twelve-inch cardboard boxes were originally used to sell (cost 24 cents/) - purpose was to prevent theft and avoid stores needing to buy new display racks ($8-$10,000). This was eventually killed by giving half the savings to the stores. The CD boom lasted from 1984 to 2000; first year sales were 5.8 million, the last year's was 942 million. PC manufacturers were exempted from anti-copying legislation (owners could back up data as much as they wanted) in the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. Before long, mass retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart would account for about 2/3 CDs sold in the U.S.; Tower Records and Musicland went bankrupt. Online song swapping began with uncompressed files that used 1.5 megabits/second of song and dial-up connections. MP3 cut file sizes by about 90%. Then came Napster The main challenge of running Napster at first was making certain the servers kept up with demand - by 19'7'99 it had 150,000 registered users. The music industry's lawsuit generated enormous added publicity, and by July 2000 almost 20 million Napster users were on board. Napster, however, lost the lawsuit because an internal email proved management knew the transferred music files were pirated. Napster appealed, lost, and went bankrupt in 2002. Apple, in 2001, blew the lid off the recording industry with its iPod and iTunes. No longer did buyers have to purchase a disc-full of songs - they now could buy just the individual songs they wanted. Steve Jobs claims Apple's low market share (about 5%) helped the record companies make the move, believing that "not that much could happen." Apple claims total sales in the billions, availability of 10 million songs at prices of 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29 each, with volume discounts, file management, some file-sharing, sale prices, and some freebies. And now there are other Internet sales sources as well; meanwhile, major retailers (eg. Best Buy, Wal-Mart) have reduced the space given to marketing CDs. Who needs CDs anymore?