Rockonomics : The Money Behind the Music Hardcover Marc Eliot

One of the very best treatments of the relationship of money to popular music in American popular culture from the beginning of the century to the late 1980's. Rockonomics is particularly strong on the history of the publishing giants ASCAP and BMI, and the relationship of music to the advertising industry. Although the presentation is weakened slightly by chapters that are merely numbered and not named, the index does allow you to zoom in on periods, issues, or musicians of interest and skip around (as we musicians are prone to do when reading). But all in all, this clears the cigar smoke of industry fat-cats from the room, and is essential reading for anyone who wants to see "duh big picture about duh biz."