"Kenfeld provides a welcome addition to the intellectual property rights debate in music. His book addresses the historical linkages between music piracy and the music business, and how both are deeply entangled. The fact that the author is a staff member at the special collections library at Pennsylvania State University is clear. The archival data used throughout this book is the result of a very thorough engagement with material spanning nearly a century."

Cultural Studies

“Barry Kernfeld’s rich and stimulating book makes a significant contribution to current debates over technology, copying, piracy, and the political economy of the music industry. He clarifies not just the history of legal and illegal music copying but also the arguments about these practices and the complicated relationships that have resulted among the law, corporations, entrepreneurs, consumers, and the media.”

Simon Frith, University of Edinburgh

“Pop Song Piracy is original, insightful, learned without being stuffy and, in the end, a profound investigation of the ways people have tried (and often succeeded) in getting the popular music they wanted without paying for it. Anyone interested in the business of music will want to learn what Barry Kernfeld has to tell us.”

Howard S. Becker, coauthor of “Do You Know . . . ?”: The Jazz Repertoire in Action