Appetite for Self-Destruction

The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age

Steve Knopper

• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9798337209005
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music & Business

A "thoroughly researched and engaging" account of the rise of digital music and the industry's failures by the author of MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson  ( Kirkus Reviews ).

Big Music once had everything going for it. The birth of the compact disc and the explosion of CD sales turned it into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world. Then the emergence of digital music and MP3-sharing websites grinded the party to a halt. But where did it all go wrong?

In Appetite for Self-Destruction, music business expert Steve Knopper chronicles the modern recording industry's epic rise and fall. The story spans over three decades, from the "death" of disco to the birth of music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. Thanks to interviews with more than 200 industry sources—including Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr., and disruptive Napster creator Shawn Fanning—Knopper takes readers inside the boardrooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, and company jets where all the decisions were made. The result is a blow-by-blow account of how the industry went from wealth and excess to denial and bad decisions in the face of dramatic technological advances.

Appetite for Self-Destruction is an informative and entertaining history of the music industry, full of larger-than-life personalities. A cautionary tale for the digital age, this is where Big Music was, where it is, and where it's going.

"[Knopper] paints a devastating picture of the industry's fumbling, corruption, greed and bad faith over the decades." — The New York Times

" Appetite (its title nicked from that of the Guns N' Roses debut disc) is an enthralling read, equal parts anger and regret. Knopper's writing is sharp, his approach sharper." — The Boston Globe

"A concise and cogent chronicle of how greed, excess, and stupidity killed the record business." —William Knoedelseder, author of Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, the Music Business, and the Mafia

"[R]eads like the best liner notes—compelling, insightful, and passionate. He exposes the weasels and the heroes behind the songs we all know, and gives us a front row seat as the music industry trashes its own hotel room." —Jim Sheeler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and author of the National Book Award Finalist Final Salute

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Cast of Characters
• Prologue 1979–1982: Disco Crashes the Record Business, Michael Jackson Saves the Day, and MTV Really Saves the Day
• Chapter 1, 1983–1986: Jerry Shulman’s Frisbee: How the Compact Disc Rebuilt the Record Business
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 1: The CD Longbox
• Chapter 2, 1984–1999: How Big Spenders Got Rich in the Post-CD Boom
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 2: Independent Radio Promotion
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 3: Digital Audio Tape
• Chapter 3, 1998–2001: The Teen Pop Bubble: Boy Bands and Britney Make the Business Bigger Than Ever—But Not for Long
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 4: Killing the Single
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 5: Pumping Up the Big Boxes
• Chapter 4, 1998–2001: A Nineteen-Year-Old Takes Down the Industry—with the Help of Tiny Music, and a Few Questionable Big Music Decisions
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 6: The Secure Digital Music Initiative
• Chapter 5, 2002–2003: How Steve Jobs Built the iPod, Revived His Company, and Took Over the Music Business
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 7: The RIAA Lawsuits
• Chapter 6, 2003–2007: Beating Up on Peer-to-Peer Services Like Kazaa and Grokster Fails to Save the Industry, Sales Plunge, and Tommy Mottola Abandons Ship
• Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 8: Sony BMG’s Rootkit
• Chapter 7; The Future How Can the Record Labels Return to the Boom Times? Hint: Not by Stonewalling New High-tech Models and Locking Up the Content
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Copyright