Fortune’s Fool by Fred Goodman tells the story of the recording industry through the tale of Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and his gamble on Warner Music Group (and the recording industry in general).
While interesting at times, it’s tough to recommend it. The first 200 or so pages cover the history of the Bronfman family and how they acquired their fortune, before turning to the history of the recording industry and how it all began to fall apart in the late ’90s with Napster.
It doesn’t really get interesting (or particularly relevant) until the last third of the book, and Warner Music (and others) try to figure out how to continue making money in recording in the age of MP3s. I’ll give away then ending: they don’t, but Steve Jobs and Apple do.
Goodman seems to have strong understanding that litigation is the act of desperate companies, while transformative companies succeed through innovation.
And so it was that while I was about halfway through the book, Warner Music Group was sold for $3.3 billion.
Read the New York Times review of Fortune’s Fool.