Going Platinum

In October, people panicked that 2014 could be the first year without a platinum album. Could this be the end of platinum albums? What will this do to music? The panic swelled on the Internet. Then Taylor Swift’s 1989 dropped and sold 1.287 million units in one week, and it could go multi-platinum in under a month. Of course the platinum album isn’t going anywhere. And whether or not an album is certified platinum has no effect on whether you will get to listen to your jams.

iTake-Over coming in December

The recording industry has been going through a digital transformation over the past 20 years. However, this is only the most media recent transition in a culture industry that is marked by constant change. In iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era, I explore this transition by interrogating the rhetoric about music’s pending death. Published by Rowman & Littlefield, the book intervenes in the reductive discussion about music piracy. By arguing that file-sharing is piracy, the major record labels have convinced the people, Congress and the judicial system to change both music listening practice and law. As a result of this transition, I argue the major record labels are economically and politically more powerful than ever before. To learn more, you should order your copy now.