For more than a decade, record companies have warned of the dire consequences of illegal downloading of music and the imminent demise of their industry. Though many mom-and-pop record shops have indeed disappeared, the big record companies have not only survived but, according to Arditi, have strengthened their dominance of music culture. Far from being defensive reactions to widespread digital piracy, the prosecutions of Napster and the passage of legislation by Congress were part of an offensive strategy on the part of record companies to maintain their profits. Arditi divides this book into four main parts: Transformations in the Recording Industry, on the move to digital; The State in Music, on the role of government; The Recording Industry and Labor; and Digital Distribution and Surveillance. In each section the author shows how society has lost as corporations gained advantage. However, as Arditi concludes, despite the efforts by the record companies, the consuming public and performing musicians refuse to acquiesce totally to the industry view of how music should be consumed today. A valuable resource for those interested in the future of music in society. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Choice Reviews

Throughout the book, Arditi consistently responds to industry-initiated narratives (whether artist- or label- or RIAAgenerated) with concrete data either directly to refute or contextualize within a larger framework, thereby arriving at a more credible conclusion. The strength of Arditi’s writing is in this construct, and it can be terribly effective: even in the first chapter, he calmly sets up the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) analysis of the dwindling retail value of music in the United States between 1995–2009 and then contrasts it with Nielsen SoundScan numbers from the same period, which show a remarkable increase. . . .[T]he content of the book...is undoubtedly
excellent.

ARSC Journal

David Arditi’s book is an excellent study of the music industry’s political economy in the age of digital capitalism. He shows that it is not file sharers who are thieves, but that rather oligopolistic capitalist entertainment companies are thieves that exploit artists and not just steal surplus-value, but also commodify and destroy the cultural commons. The book is a highly astute and timely study that shows that we urgently need to overcome capitalism and create a commonist information society.

Prof. Christian Fuchs, Journal Editor, tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique and author of Digital Labour and Karl Marx

David Arditi’s iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era expertly reassesses the technological, social, legal, and cultural transformations from 1995 to 2010 in the recorded music business as it shifts from more packaged physical commodity sales to mostly digital downloads and streaming services. The global music industry has faced, and then adapted to, tremendously disruptive changes in the consumption, marketing, production, and valorization of recorded music with the advent of the Internet and digital technologies over the last two decades. His book maps out why the major record labels quickly adapted how they produce music to remain more dominant players within the broader music industry game. This insightful analysis challenges the conventional wisdom by showing how fully digital production and distribution systems more deeply entrenched, rather than somehow undermined, the industrial clout of these businesses.

Timothy W. Luke, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

David Arditi’s well-timed book, iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era examines the spurious relationship between digital downloads and the proposed end of the commercial recording industry. During this period record labels executives, their representatives and the general media foretold demise of recorded music with the development of mp3 file format. We continue to face an unparalleled era of accelerated change. How music executives respond and adapt to new realities will determine the success of their organizations. This well researched book is highly recommended for artists and practitioners, especially executives who will inevitably face new challenges to the creation, production, distribution and consumption of recorded music.

Richard Strasser, Director, Music Industry Leadership Program, Northeastern University