2011. In the midst of the Apple-Android tech war and a music label crusade against piracy and illegal downloading, Spotify redrew the battle lines, sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, and got the hardline executives at Universal, Sony, and Warner to sign with its "free-mium" platform. Carlsson and Leijonhufvud covered the company from its inception, and here they draw upon hundreds of interviews, previously untapped sources, and in-depth reporting...

From the invention of the earliest known sound-recording device in 1850s Paris to the CD crash and digital boom today, Murphy takes readers on an entertaining and encyclopedic ride through the many cataclysmic musical, cultural, and technological changes that shaped a century and a half of the industry.

"A narrative history of the Motown music label covering the historical context, personalities, and ongoing legacy of the 'sound of young America'"--

"Pop music didn't begin with the Beatles in 1963, or with Elvis in 1956, or even with the first seven-inch singles in 1949. There was a pre-history that went back to the first recorded music, right back to the turn of the century. Who were these earliest record stars--and were they in any meaningful way "pop stars"? Who was George Gershwin writing songs for? Why did swing, the hit sound for a decade or more, become almost invisible after World War...