Enthralling... A terrific, timely, informative book... Witt is an authoritative, enthusiastic, sure-footed guide, and his research and his storytelling are exemplary... How Music Got Free stands comparison to The Social Network -- Nick Hornby * Sunday Times *
Incredible, possibly canonical. . . . A story that's too bizarre to make up, but needed to be told. . . . Even if you're not a music geek, How Music Got Free is one of the most gripping investigative books of the year. * Vice *
Like Bond meets 28 Days Later... Witt tells a thrilling tale, with a cast of music biz bigwigs, painstaking German boffins, and pirates and petty thieves. Witt's writing reminded me of all my favourite modern essayists: Remnick, Franzen and John Jeremiah Sullivan. I loved it -- Colin Greenwood, Radiohead
Brilliant... Like many great works of investigative journalism it makes it clear that this is one of those stories you think you know until you realise you don't -- John Niven * The Spectator *
A fantastic book and a scintillating achievement -- Felix Martin, author of Money: the unauthorised biography
[How Music Got Free] has the clear writing and brisk reportorial acumen of a Michael Lewis book -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *
[How Music Got Free] has the clear writing and brisk reportorial acumen of a Michael Lewis book -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *
Reads like an underworld crime story... Engaging even on the tech side of the story... Witt is concise and very funny -- Bob Stanley * New Statesman *
Closely reported and brilliantly written ... highly entertaining... Exemplary in its clarity... this story is full of surprises as well -- Steven Poole * Guardian *
This is the definitive history of a media revolution... I was hooked late into the night... There are lots of big lessons here... it is the story of all creative industries, and in the end, the internet itself -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *
You need to get hold of Stephen Witt's jaundiced, whip-smart, superbly reported and indispensable How Music Got Free * Washington Post *
Fascinating... An engrossing story... surely the year's most important music book * Independent *
Astonishing * Guardian *
Astonishing * Guardian *
Enthralling * Sunday Times *
An accomplished first book... So compelling * Economist *
Lucid, page-turning, engaging... A cross between a nail-biting true-crime story and the type of blow-by-blow books penned by Bob Woodward... Deeply sourced and dramatic -- Scott Timberg * Literary Review *
Witt's first book has great strengths - primarily that he is a natural storyteller, with an eye for character and the ability to digest large amounts of technical detail, and turn it into a colourful tale * Financial Times *
Scorching investigative history of how the music industry found itself staring catastrophe in the face... Full of colourful characters... Essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of our creative industries * The Bookseller *
This is a riveting account of greed, huge characters and the collapse of a kind of empire, and will be the benchmark by which future books are judged -- Jamie Atkins, 4 stars * Record Collector *
