Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the Remaking of American Copyright in the Twentieth Century
"This book is for music lovers and those of a certain age who remember artists from the Jazz and Rock days of the 1960s when tape recorders and vinyl were in place and bootlegged recordings of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin were the in-thing to have. You can see how [Cummings] has enjoyed researching the detailed background of music piracy which makes this book a jolly good read providing the history of music piracy from the late 19th century onwards." --Entertainment Law Review"Offers a detailed narrative account of how [copyright] issues became so complicated - and how, in the face of corporate pressure, they're becoming brutally simpleEL Cummings has provided a usable, musical past." --Jim Cullen,History News Network"Valuable... Cummings' book makes clear that piracy will continue, and that that is far from being a bad thing." --Reason"From Supreme Court battles over player piano rolls to the music industry's $75 trillion lawsuit against Limewire,Democracy of Soundshows how we arrived at today's debates about music ownership and piracy. Cummings is not only a skilled historian, but also a lively story-teller who can explain complex copyright issues with admirable clarity. For anyone with an opinion about the politics, economics, and ethics of music copying, this book offers essential perspective." --David Suisman, author ofSelling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music"Piracy may be the dominant issue troubling musicians and the culture industries today, but as Alex Cummings shows, struggles over appropriation, sharing, and theft have long shaped the entire history of recorded sound and the music business. Combining legal, cultural, and business history,Democracy of Soundelegantly and impartially illuminates how Americans made music into a thing, while fighting bitterly over who would gain access to that music.  Anyone with any interest in the future of copyright or in our cultural past should read this important book." --Charles F. McGovern, author ofSold American: Consumption and Citizenship, 1890-1945"Beautifully crafted, intelligently researched, and cogently argued,Democracy of Soundoffers readers a compelling analysis of the changing legal status of recorded music in the United States from the 1870s to the present. Many books have been written about intellectual property; few have done more to make its significance accessible to the general reader.  It will appeal not only to specialists in American studies, music, and law, but also to anyone who cares about American popular culture, past and present." --Richard John, author ofNetwork Nation