Pop Song Piracy: Disobedient Music Distribution since 1929

Pop Song Piracy traces nearly a century of unauthorized music distribution, beginning with music publishers' efforts to eliminate bootleg lyric sheet compilations in 1929 through the digital era. Kernfeld documents how conflicts over music distribution have followed a recurring pattern: disobedience, prohibition, and eventual assimilation. In the 1940s and '50s, fake books—unofficial collections of melodies and lyrics—became essential tools for musicians. Publishers initially tried to suppress them but eventually published their own versions. This cycle repeated across subsequent conflicts, from European pirate radio stations to bootlegged live performances to file sharing. The book examines the distinction between distribution methods that simply copy existing songs, such as counterfeit CDs, and those that transform songs into new products, like file sharing. Kernfeld argues that the music industry's repeated failure to innovate and create new products ultimately drove the very piracy it sought to prevent.