Ripped: How the Lead Generation Revolutionized Music Review

I recently finished reading the book Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. I’m a little mad at myself for waiting so long to read it. It’s been on the “to read” pile for a long time and I just started reading it. It’s a fantastic look at the evolution of music over the last 20 years. From the rise of indie bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes, to Prince’s record label, to mp3s and the “pay what you want” model presented by Radiohead and NineInch Nail’s Trent Reznor.

I can’t honestly say that I remember much about my 7th grade history class. I couldn’t even tell you the name of my teacher, much less what we “learned” that year. All I remember is that there was a banner hanging over the blackboard. He said: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

If you are going to be a musician today, you need to understand how the music industry has changed so that you can try to figure out where it is going. It sure is great to know about the Tin Pan Alley writers from the late 1800s to the early 1900s; it is important to understand the role of radio in the emergence of popular music and how payola controlled it; It’s important to know that the first video to air on MTV was The Buggle’s “Video Killed The Radio Star” (think seriously for a minute).

In the last 20 years, the music industry has changed more than it has in most of its existence. Yet certainly in this century. The current music industry in which we operate is still changing at a rapid pace. There is speculation about the extinction of CDs in 2-3 years, there has been a great resurgence in vinyl (who saw it coming ?!), Major record labels as we knew them may cease to exist in 5 years, mp3s and file sharing are now a good thing and a major source of worldwide distribution (what ?!).

“Ripped” by Greg Kott is one of the most fascinating books on current music history that I have ever read. Jump right into the first chapter on the great consolidation of the Big 5 (at the time there were 5 big record labels, as opposed to the 2 1/2 there are now). This was a huge change in the recording industry at the time. It scared a lot of artists and put a lot of people out of work.

Greg does a great job detailing the consolidation of the majors, the rise of indie bands, the fight against and for the sampling of hip-hip records and new records and mashup artists, Prince’s record label and his do-it-yourself approach. The same, the rise of mp3s and the fall of Napster and the “pay what you want” model that Radiohead started with “In Rainbows”, which Trent Renzor “improved upon”.

I don’t want to reveal too much, because I want you to be able to enjoy this book. That it isa nice book. It discusses in detail the many things that have happened in the last two decades that have dramatically changed the face of the music industry.

You can read each chapter as a vignette about each band, person, or aspect of the industry. But when taken as a whole, “Ripped” is more like a cautionary tale with a hopeful ending.

“Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”