Appetite for Self-Destruction

The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age

By Steve Knopper
(Soft Skull Press, Paperback, 9781593762698, 320pp.)

Publication Date: December 2009

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover, Compact Disc, Compact Disc, MP3 CD, MP3 CD

Categories: Business Aspects, History & Criticism - General

“[A] stark accounting of the mistakes major record labels have made since the end of the LP era and the arrival of digital music . . . A wide-angled, morally complicated view of the current state of the music business . . . [Knopper] suggests that with even a little foresight, record companies could have adapted to the Internet’s brutish and quizzical new realities and thrived . . . He paints a devastating picture of the industry’s fumbling, corruption, greed and bad faith over the decades.” —The New York Times

“Knopper, a Rolling Stone music business writer, thoughtfully reports on the record racket’s slow, painful march into financial ruin and irrelevance, starting with the near-catastrophic sales slump that began in 1979 after the demise of disco. Though the labels persevered, they finally lost control of their product when they chose to ignore the possibilities of the Internet . . . Knopper piles on examples of incompetence, making a convincing case that the industry’s collapse is a drawn-out suicide.” —The Los Angeles Times

“[Knopper has a] nose for the story’s human element . . . The best parts of the book, such as Knopper’s analysis of the late-’90s teen-pop bubble (and how it ultimately burst), move with the style and drama of a great legal thriller—think Michael Clayton with headphones . . . This is gripping stuff. Crank it up.” —Time Out New York

“The music industry is toast, my friends. And congrats to Rolling Stone vet Steve Knopper, whose fantastic new book Appetite for Self-Destruction explains why.” —Village Voice

“Laced with anecdote, buttressed by detailed accounts of the most flagrant record-industry transgressions, Appetite (its title nicked from that of the Guns N’ Roses debut disc) is an enthralling read, equal parts anger and regret. Knopper’s writing is sharp, his approach sharper.” —Boston Globe