Customer Reviews

I Believe in Music: Hardcover

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a musician and an entrepreneur and loved this book, a fast-paced and fascinating tale from the entrepreneur that founded Roland. I always assumed they were well funded from the beginning but in fact weren't. They ran the co. on a shoe-string budget and developed some of the music industry's most exciting products.

Roland was founded by an industrious young guy that emerged from post war Hiroshima as a watch repairman. After running ACE Music,

Its clear the author is an entrepreneur and the story zips along. Read it and then go record on your VS-880, V Drums, D110, yada yada yada

This is a well written history of the Roland company that gives you a unique viewpoint into the commercial development of electronic musical instruments in the late 20th century. I was surprised to find that a large portion of the book is devoted to offering guidance for those in the music business. It looks like great advice, and it comes from an extremely succesful man, but I skipped a good 100 pages devoted to business structure, management, marketing, etc. that isn't really my focus.

I give this book 5 stars because I think Ikutaro is an amazing person. Even though I've never met him, I hold him in higher esteem than most of the geniuses who use his many products because he survived hell to get where he is today. His writing style is meticulous, and his attention to detail borders on annoying, but that is who he is. In this book minutiae gets equal billing with the profound: he can tell you about the day he signed a million dollar deal or what he had for lunch that same day with equal accuracy. It's both impressive and adorable.