Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music »

Greg Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune since 1990. He has established a national reputation not just for his comprehensive coverage of popular music — from hip-hop to rock — but for enterprising reporting on music-related social, political and business issues. His Tribune-hosted blog, Turn it Up, is considered a must-read for music buffs and industry insiders alike. With his Chicago Sun-Times counterpart Jim DeRogatis, Kot cohosts Sound Opinions, "the world's only rock 'n' roll talk show," nationally syndicated in over twenty markets and avialable worldwide on the web. Kot has been a regular contributor to Rolling Stone since 1992, and has written for Details, Blender, Entertainment Weekly, Men's Journal, Guitar World, Vibe and Request. Kot’s biography of Wilco, Learning How to Die, was published in June 2004. He lives on Chicago's Northwest Side with his wife, two daughters, and far too many records.

No less than a decade ago, the majority of mainstream music was funneled through a handful of media conglomerates. But now more individuals are listening to more music from a greater variety of sources than at any time in history. Ripped tells the story of how the laptop generation created a new music industry, with fans and bands rather than corporations in charge. In this new world, bands aren’t just musicmakers but self-contained multimedia businesses; and fans aren’t just consumers but distributors and even collaborators. Since this digital revolution hit the music industry, its infiltration into every other form of media has been well documented, if often not well understood. Ripped brilliantly illustrates how, when, and where the changes happened first and leaves us with an understanding of how to move forward.

The New York Times - Dana Jennings

…the most fascinating part of the book is its retelling of how the big music companies committed capitalist suicide. The executives couldn't get their analog heads around the digital future. If industry leaders had always followed their mistrust of technology, we'd still be listening to music on 78-r.p.m. shellac, or maybe even wax cylinders. Ripped is another case study in American industrial arrogance, an account of companies that couldn't (or wouldn't) learn agility.

Introduction Chaos and Transformation 1

1 Consolidated to Death 5

2 Payola Blues 14

3 Napster vs. Metallica 25

4 Customers or Criminals? 41

5 Is Prince Nuts? 58

6 "Do Not Insult Death Cab" 58

7 Conor Oberst: "He Was Thirteen and Kicking Our Asses" 87

8 "Screw the Record Companies, Screw MTV, Just Go Out and Play" 102

9 Everyone's a Critic 112

10 Arcade Fire: Chocolate Fountains Everywhere 132

11 Innovation Out of Necessity 149

12 GirlTalk's Illegal Art 161

13 Future Shock from Wham City 173

14 "George Bush Doesn't Like Black People" 180

15 A New Boss, Same as the Old Boss 192

16 Steve Jobs and the iPod "Burglary Kit" 201

17 "The Feedback Loop of Creativity" 211

18 "I Love Picking Fights" 219

19 "It's Up to You" 232

20 "Steal, Steal, and Steal Some More" 242

Afterword 251

Acknowledgments 257

Index 259