Introduces and explores the concept of "music like water - as a service". If you like to download music and are interested in the music industry as a business, this book is fairly interesting. Perhaps a bit too preachy and already a tad outdated it still holds up in a broad sense. ( )

This is a quick canter through some of the problems facing the music industry (it spares little love for the major labels), with some conjectures about future solutions, some of which are received wisdom in many quarters, while some are more bold and speculative. It's a good overview, though the level of detail and analysis is patchy in a few areas. Also it focuses on the US situation, which generalises in many areas but not all (e.g. music radio is very different elsewhere). I saw one of the reviews on Amazon said the book "is really not about music but merchandising" - and while I don't think that's entirely fair or true, I can see why the reviewer said that. Many will question the desirability of a brave new world where only third of musicians' revenue comes from recordings and the rest comes from ringtones, t-shirts and corporate tie-ins. In cases where that happens, the musicians may be pressurised to divide their attention in the same way, which wouldn't augur well for the music. ( )