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Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music
 
 
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Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music [Paperback]

John Alderman

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Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music + Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age + The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution
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John Alderman
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Review

‘An important book for anyone interested in where our culture is headed.’ Mark Simpson, Independent on Sunday

‘There’s unlikely to be a better tool than this book for understanding what's been going on.’ Francis Spufford, Evening Standard

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

A compelling blend of cultural criticism and business writing...and the first full-length look at the [on-line music] revolution...Alderman's detailed, unflaggingly entertaining book sets a dizzying standard. "--Publishers Weekly (starred review). Sonic Boom is a fascinating narrative of the controversy that's sending shock waves through the music industry. It reveals how even as the star-maker machinery of record companies remains in the hands of the old guard, innovators are finding ways to route around it. Part industry expos and part music history, Sonic Boom presents a candid and entertaining account of how digital compression technologies such as MP3 have brought out the best and worst in artists and consumers alike, and how the end result can be nothing less than a cultural and economic transformation. Peopled with a sensational cast of characters that includes rock stars, music moguls, teenagers, and Internet entrepreneurs, Sonic Boom exposes the recording industry's plight as a fascinating microcosm of the vast cultural, ethical, and legal issues that all industries face in the information age.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
On the sunny afternoon of May 3, 2000, a mixed crowd of techies, music fans, and reporters began to assemble in front of an uninspiring beige building on a street corner in San Mateo. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Amazon.com:  7 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Examines the advent of Napster and the response of musicians 16 Oct 2001
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
What happens when rock stars fight business over copyright issues and online downloads? Sonic Boom examines the advent of Napster, the response of musicians, and the fans who have come to view access to free music as a right. Blend in assessments of new technologies and key issues of artists' rights and you have an absorbing musical and cultural history.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
BUY da Boom (bada bing)... 8 Jan 2002
By R. Hendee - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I ordered this book when it was first released and it sat in a big pile of "future-reads" until months later. When I finally got around to picking it up I couldn't put it down. For someone who has closely followed the digital music revolution from the early days, it was more a trip down memory lane than anything but I definately learned some interesting tidbits along the way. Chronicling approximately a 4 year span of efforts from companies and characters from the pre-Napster days (Goodnoise and Liquid) to the post-Napster era (Gnutella and the peer-to-peer craze) and everything in between, this book is a quick and fun read. If you're into music and technology and have followed the bitter but inevitable marriage of the two, you'll enjoy this historical romp down memory lane.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Only if you're genuinely interested.. 7 May 2003
By "wuscorp1" - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
An excellent documentary of a tale that may initially conclude as the music industry's final straw with musicians and fans alike. Unfortunately, author John Alderman might have jumped the gun with timing the release of this book, because the war over 'all things MP3' is just now starting to heat up. With that being said, "Sonic Boom" is surely your best bet for research on music copyright and the conflict over its piracy. More importantly, however, this book explicitly warns the music industry about repeating mistakes of the past: ignoring technological advances, and the Internet's definite position in the future of music sales. It covers the twists and turns of the over-celebrated court case against Napster, while underlining how the collapse of traditional economics of the music industry was not completely inevitable. Alderman repeatedly returns to the notion that if different decisions had been made at particular moments, it might have been possible to preserve copyright within cyberspace. According to the author, the failure to create a virtual marketplace for selling music was a fatal error. Instead of using all their lobbying power and legal resources to attack the Net, the industry's corporate leaders should have been working out qualms in developing technologies, so that the fan and musician would prosper in today's rapid Internet growth. However, copyright laws were strengthened, Napster was prosecuted, and blocking software was developed to "kill" Peer2Peer sharing. Alderman argues that despite these triumphs, all these efforts only delay the inevitable.

Good book, quick read, and definitely a few years ahead of its time. As legal action against copyright infringement and Peer2Peer sharing heats up ($17,000 settlements among colleges and their students), intelligence of John Alderman's caliber is as necessary today as it has ever been.


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