This is the first book to tell the inside story of the battle for control over the future of music which has made headlines around the world.
As the internet grew throughout the 90s, software was developed, such as Liquid Audio and MP3, that could deliver music anywhere and most importantly for free. Bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Beastie Boys were reaching fans without record company support; entrepreneurs made money distributing digital music files without licensing agreements; the music industry executives complained of piracy and refused to embrace the Information Age.
With the growth of Napster, invented by the nineteen-year-old Shawn Fanning and launched in 1999, the demand for online music exploded. Millions of fans exchanged their favourite music with others for free. The response from the music industry was seismic - rock stars, as diverse as Metallica and Eminem, disowned fans who had downloaded their music while others, including Radiohead and Courtney Love, celebrated the new relationship.
'Sonic Boom' is immaculately researched and peopled by the musicians, executives, entrepreneurs and programmers behind one of the most vital questions concerning the Information Age: who owns intellectual content on the web?
