When the Music Stops...

In his lid-lifting history of the music business, Norman Lebrecht argues that the multinationals who now dominate it are responsible for its decline. Today concerts are being abandoned by ordinary music lovers, orchestras face bankruptcy, new composers and artists are unable to find an audience – and a handful of stars grow very rich indeed. When the Music Stops… is a panoramic backstage tour of the classical music business: from the early masters of hype like Liszt and Barnum to the forces behind Pavarotti and the follies of Bernstein, it is crammed with colourful detail, inside information and vital statistics. With insight and wit, Norman Lebrecht has written the definitive account of the rise and fall of serious music as an independent art. Author is one of the most widely-read commentators on music, culture and cultural politics; he is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications