Save on pre-loved TVs
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows.
Buy new:
-13% $24.47
FREE delivery Saturday, November 1 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Book-center
$24.47 with 13 percent savings
List Price: $28.00
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Saturday, November 1 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 8 hrs 25 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.47 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.47
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
FREE 30-day refund/replacement
FREE 30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$10.33
May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less See less
FREE delivery November 4 - 6. Details
In stock
$$24.47 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.47
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Fred Goodman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis Hardcover – July 13, 2010

by Fred Goodman (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 26 ratings
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.47","priceAmount":24.47,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"47","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"d3FlLqLxVTUsQWqn%2F1pYwUJhA6BU8BmmfseEzSFHl7%2BQTO7TA0od24RIyaRWG2mhNW1uzWS6FP8DxrhHRWScTeCLRh028GJzjvRBxmmR4yNeQzXySC804QFicM52f6Hhu%2BistIm0PKoVAxwF0uVGdLaNNJaQa0oMQLKrp4UI3%2FMjMgDRbXW2czsZ5kDmexPH","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$10.33","priceAmount":10.33,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"33","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"d3FlLqLxVTUsQWqn%2F1pYwUJhA6BU8BmmZKCEe3pA4fpqFzkjiQYDdxde0TyMhNmVibK0VhZb1kaWSlXRB0dakT69cn8%2FLiAsuwYuBqZt4fIXGFibSLQccT%2F3iQPiomz74Zb9UfAGH%2BEROV8XoE1c%2BcHZ8qqf8j84W5zP5WC4v5GsunOyO1WNAoVBJHkHIRXk","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

In 1999, when Napster made music available free online, the music industry found itself in a fight for its life. A decade later, the most important and misunderstood story—and the one with the greatest implications for both music lovers and media companies—is how the music industry has failed to remake itself. In Fortune’s Fool, Fred Goodman, the author of The Mansion on the Hill, shows how this happened by presenting the singular history of Edgar M. Bronfman Jr., the controversial heir to Seagram’s, who, after dismantling his family’s empire and fortune, made a high-stakes gamble to remake both the music industry and his own reputation.

Napster had successfully blown the industry off its commercial foundations because all that the old school label heads knew how to do was record and market hits. So when Bronfman took over the Warner Music Group in 2004, his challenge was to create a new kind of record executive.

Goodman finds the source of the crisis in the dissolution of the old Warner Music Group, the brilliant conglomerate of Atlantic, Elektra, and Warner Bros. Records. He shows how Doug Morris, the head of Atlantic Records, rose through the ranks and rode the CD bonanza of the 1990s to enormous corporate and personal profit before becoming embroiled in an ego-driven corporate turf war, and how all of Warner’s record executives were blindsided when AOL/Time-Warner announced in 2003 that it wanted nothing more to do with the record industry. When the music group was finally sold to Bronfman, it was a ghost of itself.

Bronfman built an aggressive, streamlined team headed by Lyor Cohen, whose relentless ambition and discipline had helped build Def Jam Records. They instituted a series of daring initiatives intended to give customers legitimate online music choices and took market share from Warner’s competitors. But despite these efforts, illegal downloads still outnumber legitimate ones 19–1.

Most of the talk of a new world of music and media has proven empty; despite the success of iTunes, even wildly popular sites like YouTube and MySpace have not found a way to make money with music. Instead, Warner and the other labels are diversifying and forcing young artists to give them a cut of their income from touring, publishing, and merchandising. Meanwhile, the average downloader isn’t even meeting forward-thinking musicians halfway. Each time a young band finds a following through music websites, it’s a unique story; no formula has emerged. If one does, Warner is probably in a better position than anyone to exploit it. But at the end of the day, If is the one-word verdict on Bronfman’s big bet.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  4. Publication date
    July 13, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0743269985
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0743269988
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Who better than a former Rolling Stone editor to chronicle the ups and downs ups of Warner Music and its larger industry? Thanks to his journalism experience and unparalleled access to executives, author Goodman (The Mansion on the Hill, 1997, and others) sings the songs of excess, ego, and a creative worldview at a crossroads. The characters seem to appear straight from a comic book: Crusty Seagram founder Sam Seagram––and bound-for-success heirs Edgar Sr. and Jr. (Bronfman); the brilliant Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records and all other industry (and greed-laden) copycats; demanding artists such as Madonna and Don Henley, who rebel against the labels’ Old World patronizing attitude. In the end, the story becomes one of increasing sobriety, asking if music and artists will survive in an Internet universe of illegal downloading. The author concludes, “the business record companies should be in: creating products and online services that add value to recordings and excite people rather than writing off a generation that never had anything worth buying.” --Barbara Jacobs

Review

"Fortune's Fool is a worthy follow-up to Goodman's classic, The Mansion on the Hill, and confirms his reputation as one of the most incisive observers of the music business."

--Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced Hollywood

"The compellingly told story of the Seagram heir’s music-business adventures at Universal and Warner Music, and what went terribly wrong....Deftly balanced and well-sourced—one of the most solid music-biz bios in recent memory."

--Kirkus Reviews

“Deeply researched, engagingly written… Mr. Goodman is clearly persuaded that Mr. Bronfman is savvier than most of his music-industry peers… The music industry’s radical trajectory over roughly the past 25 years [is] neatly traced by Mr. Goodman… The woes of the music business have been chronicled elsewhere, but Mr. Goodman keeps things lively with fresh anecdotes.”

--The Wall Street Journal

“His book is full of colorful anecdotes and astonishing quotes from his subjects … Fortune’s Fool is a great read.”
--Devin Leonard, The New York Times

"An insider's perspective on an industry in flux."
--Flagpole

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 13, 2010
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st ptg.
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743269985
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743269988
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.1 x 9.25 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #3,678,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Fred Goodman

Fred Goodman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
26 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book highly insightful and very informative, with one review describing it as an incredible fact-filled story. The writing quality receives positive feedback, with customers noting it is very well written.

Select to learn more

InsightReadabilityWriting quality
6 customers mention "Insight"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly insightful and very informative, with one customer noting it is well researched and another describing it as an incredible fact-filled story.

"...than a few factual errors this book is incredibly informative and insightful if you're interested in the music industry." Read more

"This book is well researched and the author got a number of the industry insiders to tell it like it really was, and is...." Read more

"What a great great book - incredible fact filled story! It is a must read, if you want to know the truth about the history of the music industry" Read more

"I found this book to give an excellent high level insight into senior management decisions taken in the industry over the past few years...." Read more

4 customers mention "Readability"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and entertaining, with one mentioning it provides great insights into the music industry.

"What a great great book - incredible fact filled story! It is a must read, if you want to know the truth about the history of the music industry" Read more

"...the music industry is a topic of continuing interest - Goodman's excellent book using Bronfman as the central theme - nicely captures the utter..." Read more

"...Some Monday morning quarterbacking seemed a bit unfair. Very entertaining." Read more

"...Overall, Fortune's Fool is a very informative book that is also entertaining and easy to read...." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book.

"...Very well written and introduced some very interesting real life characters." Read more

"Brilliantly written, exhaustive and depressing...." Read more

"Very well-written and insightful..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Kevin Conaway
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written and insightful
    Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    It seems like every music fan has a strong opinion on the state of the recording industry. I surely have my opinions, but I'll try to leave them out of this review. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the philosophy that music should be free, and regardless of your opinions on the major record companies, the one thing that cannot be denied is that the music industry has been steadily shrinking over the last decade or so and is currently in a major state of flux.

    In "Fortune's Fool," Fred Goodman details the Bronfman family's rise to power and fortune through the Seagram liquor brand. Goodman then takes us through Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s life as a young executive who desperately wants to shed his family's business and enter the entertainment industry. Edgar becomes the CEO of Universal Music Group, and eventually becomes the CEO of Warner Music Group. However, during Edgar's ventures, the music industry is turned on its heals by the digital revolution. Edgar now commands a strong battleship in a lake that is rapidly evaporating.

    The ultimate problem that the recording industry has been facing over the last decade or so is how to get consumers to pay for what they can get for free. Fortune's Fool details the tactics that the industry has used to fight and then to find itself in the new environment that the internet has created.

    Goodman does well to leave his own opinions and insight out of the story for the most part, and simply offer an objective view of what has happened to the industry. Goodman's insights are revealed, however, in the book's epilogue. Like most music fans, it is clear that Goodman believes that the record companies should receive some, if not most, of the blame for the situation that they have found themselves in. However, he also sees their continued existence as important. He paints a bleak future for music if consumers continue to be unwilling to pay for it and gives reasoning as to why he feels that the philosophy that music should be free is flawed. Goodman also offers his own idea of a solution (which is not unlike Spotify).

    Overall, Fortune's Fool is a very informative book that is also entertaining and easy to read. Anyone who is interested or concerned about the music industry, or anyone who enjoys reading business books for that matter, should give this book a read.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • aR
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good read
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Some passages were bit long when brevity was required. Bronfman navigated some tough waters. Those who never try, never fail, but they barely live. Bronfman, to his credit, embraced the risks and has lived a robust life when others would have clipped coupons. Some Monday morning quarterbacking seemed a bit unfair. Very entertaining.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Luigi Facotti
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating on both counts - music and Bronfman
    Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2010
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    The demise of the music industry is a topic of continuing interest - Goodman's excellent book using Bronfman as the central theme - nicely captures the utter disregard for both the customer and artist, the genius of Steve Job's iTunes/iPod platform and the scramble - still in progress to redefine what the inevitably volatile music business will be in the future now that the big companies have milked all they can from reissuing everything they can on CD. I remember the period when Elvis' first recordings - titled the Sunrise collection - were rereleased by RCA every year with "newly" discovered material.
    I was interested that one of Lyor Cohen's label heads had to scout strip clubs to understand what was happening in the music scene - says something about where society is going. Incredible amounts of money exchanging hands for trivial and thoughtless strategies. Goodman appropriately focuses on the central role of Ahmet Ertegun as the last of the old school of record and label makers.
    As to Bronfman - he comes across as very wealthy with any ascribed successes coming from throwing enough against the wall that something sticks. $50 million bonuses and losing $130 million in 3 months trying something appear to be par for Bronfman's course. Wonder how he missed the Brooklyn Bridge.
    As the other reviewer noted, the cast of characters lack the charm and idiosyncrasies of the record men of the 50s and 60s - Sid Nathan, Hy Weiss, Jerry Wexler, Berry Gordy etc. and the 80s not to ignore Malcolm McLaren. Not a business for the pure of heart.
    Good book.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • M. Groveton
    4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly written, exhaustive and depressing.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2010
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    For those of you who follow the record industry there is probably nothing in Goodman's excellent offering that will come as much of a surprise. The discovery is in the details which confirm what most already know. The record/music business is nothing more than a glamorous criminal enterprise.

    One thing that remains absolutely stunning is the "musical chairs" nature of label acquisitions and mergers. The corporate moves and record exec crossover departures and returns come off as a "whim of the week" operations philosophy. The first part of the week one rival is slitting the other's throat and by Friday both are back on the same team. Corporate cross pollination is commonplace, but reading Goodman's detailed documentation of those moves seem akin to rampant wife swapping.

    The sums of money littering the various deals, buy-outs and severance bundles can make one queasy. At the very least it's an irresponsible way to run a business. Again, the "Music Business" monster in the closet is real.

    One small quibble is the lack of ink dedicated to drug use among record executives and how those synthetic crutches may have fueled outlandish excesses. I assume that is the topic of Goodman's next book.

    Just remember...all we need are more hits!

    mdg
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Robert A. Siegel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on the music industry!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2014
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    What a great great book - incredible fact filled story! It is a must read, if you want to know the truth about the history of the music industry
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Mr. W. Headlam-wells
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis on a crucial period in the music industry
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2013
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Don't let the title mislead you. The book isn't just about Edgar Bronfman Jr.
    It's a very interesting and well-written look at the turning point for the music industry - the fall of Warner Music Group and the rise of Universal.
    If you've read 'Appetite for self-destruction' and want to know more about this period then check this book out.
    Very well researched and well-written. I work in for an independent label and I highly recommend this book
    Report
  • Lisha
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good book
    Reviewed in France on June 8, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    To be fair, it's a great book. My only problem is that's it's one sided. The last chapter tries to justify the "greediness" of the music industry that allowed a few to become millionaires on the back of many artists. It's mostly a question of values.
    Anyway this book is well documented and goes deep in solving the mysteries surronding Edgar Bronfman Jr and maybe a mean to rehabilitate him has the "fool" he never really was. He's a risk taker that sometimes wins and sometimes fails.
    Thanks Fred Goodman for this work, my first time reading this author, maybe not the last.
    Report