Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay
- Author
- Simon Napier-Bell
- Published
- 2014
- Recommended
- Once
Why it’s on the list: Napier-Bell managed the Yardbirds and Wham! and then wrote the history of his own industry from sheet music in 1710 through to streaming — publishing rights, payola, the recurring pattern of whoever controls distribution taking the money. An insider’s answer to what the music business is.
No page_count: the book is not in Open Library and the retail listings found do not state one.
Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @WillManidis’s question, “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on what is the single best book… (tweet). It was listed there as “Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay by Simon Napier-Bell”.
Connections
- Media — the music business as a distribution business.
- Brand — artists as assets, which is the industry’s own framing.
- what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.