RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC by Greg Kot (a J!-ENT Book Review)

June 21, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“Needless to say, Greg Kot has done a fantastic job with “RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC”.  The book is enjoyable, full of detail and most of all, it’s probably the definitive book that showcases the change from CD to the digital age of music.   It’s well-researched, well-written, interviews and quotes from the major players from different sides of the industry.  I was very impressed with this book and simply loved it!  For music lovers, especially those who want to know the major changes in the music industry from the late 1990′s to the present, you can’t go wrong with this book.  Highly recommended!”

TITLE: RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC

AUTHOR: Greg Kot

PUBLISHER: Scribner

PAGE COUNT: 268

A Decade ago, the vast majority of mainstream music was funneled through a handful of media conglomerates.  Now, more people are listening to more music from a greater variety of sources that at any time in history.  And big corporations such as Viacom, Clear Channel and Sony are no longer the sole gatekeepers and distributors, their monopoly busted by a revolution – an uprising led by bands and fans networking on the Internet.

Ripped tells the story of how the laptop generation created a new grassroots music industry, with the fans and bands rather than corporations in charge.  In this new world, bands aren’t just musicmakers but self-contained multimedia businesses’ and fans aren’t just consumers but distributors and even collaborators.

As the web popularized bands and albums that previously would have been relegated to obscurity, innovative artists – from Prince to Death Cab for Cutie – started coming up with, and stumbling into, alternative ways of getting their music out to fans.  Live music took on an even more significant role.  TV shows and commercials emerged as great places to hear new tunes.

Sample-based composition and mash-ups, leapfrogged ahead of the industry’s and the laws ability to keep upw itht hem.  Then, in 2007, Radiohead released an album exclusively on the Internet and allowed customers to name their own price, including $0.00.  Radiohead’s “it’s up to you” marketing coup seized on a concept the old music industry had forgotten: the customer is always right.

There has been a significant and drastic change in the music industry but most importantly, how consumers began to obtain their music.

I can easily remember when I first heard of an “MP3″ and how many people would simply post the MP3′s (albeit some divided up in RAR files and needing a program to group them together) on websites, college students would have a dedicated FTP server that only certain people would have to to be privileged to be part of the network to download the files and of course, there was Napster, followed by Grokster, Kazaa, Lime Wire and many other software and now through Bit Torrent and various other P2P relate sites.

Things that would effectively change the way music fans would obtain their music.  Things that would effectively be the start and revolutionize music through the wired generation.

But the change of the music industry was not just on the consumer end, there were music artists who grew tired of the music industry’s old practices and became a Pioneer of changing the system.  From Tom Petty to Prince and Radiohead, there were music artists who were ready to show there was an alternative way to changing the system.  But then there were those who were part of the system and went against the consumers downloading their music illegally.

Of course, as the music industry has done its fair job in focusing on the illegal downloaders as criminals, as featured in “RIPPED”, the music industry is by no means innocent.  From working with “middle men” (or independent promoters) who worked with the radio stations to get airplay, it was a new age of “payola” where music on the radio was not about giving new bands and music artists a chance, it was not the case.  It all came to those who had money in order to pay the independent promoters who would then pay commercial radio stations to get airplay.

Greg Kot, a music critic of the Chicago Tribune (since 1990) and the writer of the blog “Turn It Up” has written a book that covers plenty of detail of how music has changed within the last decade.  This is not a type of book that takes things what music listeners already know, this book is well-researched, featuring interviews with the music artists, to the music exec to quotes from people that reflected their feelings of the changing of the music scene.

From how bands and artists are signed to these 1-2 album deals but how some major established artists or bands started getting their rhythm going by their later albums and so, many talents are falling through the cracks and never getting a chance like other musical talent.

How music corporations used independent promoters to get their music played on the radio and it became so much of a monster that it bit the industry right back when commercial radio stations were expecting more money for top artists to get paid, to the point that the music industry needed the government to help bail them out.

But what I enjoyed about “RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC” was quite thorough in covering the early-stages of MP3 distribution and then covering the late tactics of the music industry to stop the music downloaders by imposing costly fines.  People who were chosen at random and unfortunately, people who would ended up paying a huge fine.  And those who fought the music industry on those fines.

Also documenting significant changes in the music industry through the music artists.   There was the Metallica vs. Napster debacle which the band fought for their musical rights but in effect, having no music band or artists following their lead and ended up receiving the ire of their fans.  To how Tom Petty offered a free download on his website without label approval and how Prince would be without a label and sell his album through his website and tie it into his concerts to the dismay of those in the music industry who were very critical of his tactics.

And of course, Radiohead’s distribution strategy for “In Rainbows” of the user having to choose how much they wanted to pay for an album.  And Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) going even farther with “Year Zero” and making the creative process much more unique as it allowed fans to become part of the process.  Disenchanted with his record label, even going as far to leak his music on the Internet, encouraging fans to trade their music and going so far at concerts to encourage the fans to not buy the music, to steal it. But smart that he offered music at a reasonable bit-rate for free and music at a higher bit-rate for $5.  Also, offering CD’s and DVD’s and a limited edition box set and in the end, it was a success.

The book also goes as far as showing how e-zines had helped promote Indie music and lead to sales, how the TV show “The O.C.” where a producer who cared about not-so-mainstream names but giving these bands a chance to showcase their music on his show and eventually giving them free publicity (which I have always thought was freakin’ great!).  And of course how the iPod became the enemy of the music industry in the earlier years to music artists such as Lily Allen and Lady Sovereign using MySpace to promote their music.   Allen who was quite communicative with their fans was able to generate publicity and marketing through her MySpace site that even her own label was wondering why the artist was generating so much buzz.  And of course, artists who have since used other social media related sites such as YouTube and Facebook effectively to promote their work.

Needless to say, Greg Kot has done a fantastic job with “RIPPED: HOW THE WIRED GENERATION REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC”.  The book is enjoyable, full of detail and most of all, it’s probably the definitive book that showcases the change from CD to the digital age of music.   It’s well-researched, well-written, interviews and quotes from the major players from different sides of the industry.

I was very impressed with this book and simply loved it!  For music lovers, especially those who want to know the major changes in the music industry from the late 1990′s to the present, you can’t go wrong with this book.  Highly recommended!