Books by David Arditi

Contrary to arguments by the Recording Industry Association of America, this book posits major record labels led the change to digital music to strengthen profits. This updated edition explores both the transitions to the download era and the streaming era for recorded music.

The belief that signing a record contract will almost infallibly lead to some measure of success- the "ideology of getting signed," as Arditi defines it-is alive and well. Though streaming, social media, and viral content have turned the recording industry upside down in one sense, the record contract and its mythos still persist.

iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era sheds light on the way large corporations appropriate new technologies related to recording and distribution of audio material to maintain their market dominance in a capitalist system.