The next chapter on the history of popular music has arrived
This long-awaited sequel to American Popular Music and Its Business: The First 400 Years, which covered through 1984, provides a detailed and objective history of the evolution and effect of digital technology from 1985 through 2020 on all segments of the popular music business, offering a compelling narrative of the events, economics, and inner workings of today’s music business as it meets the challenges of the digital future.
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Personally autographed hardcover copies are available now, but only through this website. Place your order here as initial quantities are limited! Orders will be fulfilled in the order they are received.
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The book costs $149.00 plus shipping, handling, and sales tax where applicable.
eBooks available through your preferred eBook provider. Paperback copies available from online book outlets.
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About the Book
American Popular Music and Its Business in the Digital Age examines the major events, trends, personalities, finances, and innerworkings of the music industry as it transitioned from analog to digital, from paper ledgers to metadata spreadsheets, and from clubs, dance halls, and theaters to arenas, amphitheaters, and coliseums.
The Theme
The central theme is the relationship between the consumers and creators and their collective connectivity with the music business as consumer dollars flow through industry coffers to reach the creators’ pockets, but only after the cost of financing, managing, and marketing are deducted along the way.
The Narrative
The narrative examines the record companies, the radio industry, the retail distribution supply chain, trade journals, music publishers, copyright societies, trade associations, legislation, litigation, booking agencies, concert promoters, digital innovators, download etailers, streaming and satellite services, social media platforms, the power players who ran the industry, and of course the creators upon whom everything revolves, as well as the consumers who supply the fuel that drives the entire process.
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631 pages
Over 240,000 words
30 Original Infographic Illustrations (see blogs for samples)
278 sub-chapter headings
411 footnote citations
36 pages of bibliography entries
37 pages of index references
List of 231 Acronyms
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Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Prologue: The Roots of the Music Business / The Rise of the Modern Music Business
Part One: 1985 to 1995
Chapter One: The Game of Musical Thrones
Chapter Two: Records, Retail, Radio, and the Charts that Bind Them
Chapter Three: Publishing, Copyright, Legislation, and Litigation
Chapter Four: The Creators of Music: Getting Paid
Chapter Five: The Consumer: From Whom, How, and Where the Money Flows
Part Two: 1996-2006
Chapter Six: From Big Six to Big Four
Chapter Seven: Digital Technology Rocks the Record/Radio/Retail Relationship
Chapter Eight: Publishing, Copyright, Legislation, and Litigation
Chapter Nine: The Creator's Side of the Money Equation
Chapter Ten: Emergence of the Digital Consumer: 1996-2006
Part Three: 2007 to 2019
Chapter Eleven: The Game of Musical Thrones: Riding the Digital Wave
Chapter Twelve: Records, Radio, Retail, Streaming, and the Charts
Chapter Thirteen: Publishing and Copyright: The Digital Effect
Chapter Fourteen: The Creators: A Bigger Piece of a Bigger Pie
Chapter Fifteen: The Consumer: Leading the Digital Transition
Epilogue: 2020 Into the Future
Acronyms
Bibliography
Index
Selections from the book…
Reviews from industry insiders for American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age
“The name Sanjek is synonymous with music industry knowledge, experience, and understanding, and Rick Sanjek continues this stellar family reputation as he details industry changes, from CDs to MP3s to streaming and whatever is next, in an engaging and easy-to-understand manner. This is a must-read for anyone who wants a career in the music industry.”
—Beverly Keel, Dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University
“Rick has captured the essence of the music business from 1985 forward, a period that was unmatched in the exponential changes within the industry. It’s done in a most accessible yet thorough style that’s a great trip down the river of time.”
— Tim Wipperman, former Executive Vice President, Warner Chappell Music
“A must-read about the music industry’s evolution in the digital delivery era. Rick Sanjek traces the rapid changes brought about by music consumption through digital means. The book is interesting, a great read, and breaks down very complicated matters in a way anyone could understand.”
—Bart Herbison, Executive Director
Nashville Songwriters Association International
“The academic world now can celebrate as the iconic three volume American Popular Music and Its Business has been expanded to a fourth volume for the digital age.”
—Steve Leeds, former Vice President Talent & Industry Relations, SiriusXM
About the author
Rick Sanjek's has spent fifty-four years in the music business and is still active as a music licensing consultant. He has combined the knowledge garnered during that period with his academic training and intellectual curiosity to learn and explain how the industry innerworkings interact with other. His new book, American Popular Music and Its Business in the Digital Age, is much more than a chronicle of popular music history - it's a must-read for all who want a detailed view of how digital innovation influenced and shaped the past, present, and future of all aspects of the American music business.
Selections from the Book
A Gallery of moments from Rick’s decades-long career…
1974 - Terry Stafford session at Jack Clement Recording Studios. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (A&R director, Atlantic Country), John Fisher (Atlantic Country promotion), Terry Stafford, Earl Ball (producer), Charlie Tallent (engineer). Seated: Bergen White (arranger). (Photographer: Slick Lawson)
1986 – BMI’s Rick Sanjek and Mark Fried backstage with R.E.M. (l to r) Sanjek, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, Fried, Michael Stipe. As a member of the Grammy awards and nominations committee, Sanjek advocated for creation of the Best Alternative Music Grammy, won by R.E.M. in 1992. Fried designed and implemented BMI’s first ever college radio royalty distribution. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1992 - Announcing the Grammy nominees at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. (l to r:) Emcee Rick Sanjek; six-time nominee Bryan Adams; nominee Cy Coleman; Ben E. King; nominees Robert Clivilles and David Cole of C &C Music Factory; Kathleen Battle; New York Mayor David Dinkins; Dizzy Gillespie; Nona Hendryx; Eddie Palmieri. The Grammy Awards show was held a month later in New York’s Radio City Music Hall. (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
2024 – Rick Sanjek presents a copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age to New York University/Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s Music Business Program Director Larry Miller. (l to r): Sanjek holding a copy of American Popular Music and its Business: The First Four Hundred Years Volume III, already in Miller’s book collection, Judy Tint, NYU/Steinhardt Clinical Associate Professor of Music Business, Miller holding his new copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1974 - Terry Stafford session at Jack Clement Recording Studios. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (A&R director, Atlantic Country), John Fisher (Atlantic Country promotion), Terry Stafford, Earl Ball (producer), Charlie Tallent (engineer). Seated: Bergen White (arranger). (Photographer: Slick Lawson)
1986 – BMI’s Rick Sanjek and Mark Fried backstage with R.E.M. (l to r) Sanjek, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, Fried, Michael Stipe. As a member of the Grammy awards and nominations committee, Sanjek advocated for creation of the Best Alternative Music Grammy, won by R.E.M. in 1992. Fried designed and implemented BMI’s first ever college radio royalty distribution. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1992 - Announcing the Grammy nominees at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. (l to r:) Emcee Rick Sanjek; six-time nominee Bryan Adams; nominee Cy Coleman; Ben E. King; nominees Robert Clivilles and David Cole of C &C Music Factory; Kathleen Battle; New York Mayor David Dinkins; Dizzy Gillespie; Nona Hendryx; Eddie Palmieri. The Grammy Awards show was held a month later in New York’s Radio City Music Hall. (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
2024 – Rick Sanjek presents a copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age to New York University/Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s Music Business Program Director Larry Miller. (l to r): Sanjek holding a copy of American Popular Music and its Business: The First Four Hundred Years Volume III, already in Miller’s book collection, Judy Tint, NYU/Steinhardt Clinical Associate Professor of Music Business, Miller holding his new copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
Reviews from book buyers for American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age
“As well as an academic treatise, this book is a captivating journey through the tumultuous American music industry during a period marked by revolutionary change. More than just a collection of facts, the book offers a vivid re-telling of the transition into the digital age.”
- David Bennett, Entertainment Consultant / former Executive Director, Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission
“If you were to ask Siri or Alexa, tell me in the most intricate detail the evolution of the music business over the past four decades, they would reply, “Refer to American Popular Music and It’s Business in the Digital Age 1985-2020.” It is that substantial! No rock left unturned. Absolutely wonderful…”
- Steve Azar, Award-winning Singer/Songwriter / Music & Culture Ambassador of Mississippi
“For years, music business scholars and fans have relied on two books - Don Passman's All You Need To Know About The Music Business and Jeff and Todd Brabec's Music Money & Success- to provide the best insights on this ever-changing industry. Rick Sanjek has delivered another critical must-read which chronicles the key events and critical moments of the last 35 years.”
- Mark Fried, Independent Publisher / Founding Partner Spirit Music Group / Mojo Music & Media
“The table of contents is a history lesson in and of itself!”
- Andy Van Roon, Writer / Producer / Symposium Organizer
“American Pop Music And Its Business In The Digital Age is everything you'd expect from venerable Oxford - preface, acknowledgments, prologue, epilogue, footnotes, bibliography, even an essential acronym chart; as a card-carrying academic I can't recommend it highly enough! But find out for yourself, you'll be gladder and wiser that you did.”
- Al Griffin, Ph.D. / Performer / Guitar Instructor
“This user friendly, deeply researched rendering is a guidepost of invaluable history and fact-based information. The thirty infographic illustrations are thorough and a great bonus!”
- Charlie Feldman, former BMI Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations
"A guide, a history, and a reference book wrapped into one. The table of contents and index are useful to plan your read or to satisfy a query. Whether a ‘geeky info-nut’ or a serious devotee of music, its history, and its business, this book is a ‘must have’!”
- Raymond Thomasson, Political Consultant / History Buff
“Never thought an academic book like this would be the page turner it is!”
- Lou Chanatry, Independent Cinematographer