Sunday, January 20, 2013

'How Music Works'




'How Music Works' is not an autobiography on the life of musician and writer David Byrne, but is what it says on the tin, an insight into how music works. It is told by an artist who has lived they highs and lows, through one of the most turbulent periods of music, where music itself has gone through many changes. During these last decades how the industry invests and rewards its artists, how music is recorded and now captured, how we as consumers pay for it, listen to it , share it and value it and above all the way artists earn from it have all have changed.

Many have written about the changes in the music industry and wider media market but few have the breadth and depth of Byrne’s experience, or importantly the ability to communicate it. Byrne has walked the walk from the post punk New York club scene, the highly acclaimed Talking Heads, his collaborations with Brain Eno, his collaborations with new world music, the tours the hype and the rock and roll. But Byrne doesn't talk about the sensational but about music, the economics, drivers, changes and it recent recording history. He does so from often insightful experience and by disclosing the facts behind some of the commercial models as applied to his own music and comparing these to alternative models.

Frank, insightful and thought provoking ‘How Music Works’ should be a ‘must read’ for all artists, writers, producers and those associated with music and media.

Over the next week we shall be sharing some of Byrne’s thoughts from the book and if you are interesting in this blog you should be reading the book. 


No comments: