Popular music is with us constantly. Not only do we listen to music in our homes and at live performances, but also as a sonic background in cars, bars, aeroplanes, restaurants and shopping malls. This book provides a comprehensive study of the international industry which produces, markets and distributes popular music. It considers the industry at a time of great change: facing up to the concentration of ownership and market share in the hands of the "big six" multinational companies, and adapting to technological innovations which are transforming the ways in which music is produced and consumed. The author examines how the industry is responding to the need to produce global stars and global product for an ever-growing international audience. He discusses the effect of new media technologies and means of communication, including digitalization, satellite broadcasting and the Internet, and considers the role of the largest and single most important market for commercial music, the United States.