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Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis Paperback – October 18, 2014

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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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.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Goodman builds a fascinating narrative. Bronfman emerges as, if not a hero, arguably a mighty interesting anti-hero."

--Steve Weinberg,
USA Today

"The book is a biography and a gimlet-eyed look at the music business, the dark side of the Internet, and the future of pop music. It succeeds on every level...Goodman's writing soars..."

--Bruce Ward,
Ottawa Citizen

"Fortunes Fool reads like a Greek tragedy.... the boardroom intrigues are laid out clearly, making them easy to understand. What emerges is a fascinating tale of good intentions, bad luck, and the affirmation of the corporate maxim--eat or be eaten."
--Blogcritics.org

About the Author

Fred Goodman is the author of The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collison of Rock and Commerce, which was a New York Times notable book and received the Ralph J. Gleason Award for the Best Music Book of 1997, and The Secret City Woodlawn Cemetery and the Buried History of New York. A freelance journalist, his work appears in Rolling Stone, where he was an editor, The New York Times, and most national magazines. He and his family live in White Plains, New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (October 18, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743269993
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743269995
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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Customers find the book informative and entertaining. They appreciate the well-researched content and factual story. Readers praise the writing quality as good and easy to read.

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6 customers mention "Insight"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and entertaining. They appreciate the well-researched content and factual story. However, some readers find the writing exhausting and depressing.

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

"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

"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

3 customers mention "Entertainment value"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining and a must-read for those interested in history.

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

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

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written and easy to read, with interesting real-life characters.

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

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

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

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2011
    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
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2015
    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
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2010
    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
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2010
    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
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2014
    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
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Lisha
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good book
    Reviewed in France on June 8, 2017
    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.
  • 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
    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