While [Neil] Bogart [of Casablanca] made himself wealthy and launched many hit acts, he was not a model businessman. But in 2017, Alan and Luke were both jailed over a ­Kinahan plot to murder Hutch figure Gary Hanley. How was Sony (Japan) or Polygram (Germany) supposed to know what American young people wanted to listen to? The only disappointment about the book is that the court cases it mentions at the end did not have a conclusion at press time, so the final resolution of its topics somewhat looms. I'm not sure how accurate all of the information is, but it was very interesting to understand how the behind the scenes of the music industry works.

Networks of promoters, many tied to the Mob, would lobby thru all means to get songs on the air and in heavy rotation. Record companies were a bit slow to pick up on the rock n roll era, with the big labels sticking mainly to middle-of-the-road, pop, classical artists. Less than a decade after this book was published the industry would reach both its apex and downfall, surprisingly within a short one or two year window). Record promotion as a practice fell apart due to a combination of more Federal (and media) investigations and the now more consolidated record industry's ability to force artists to pay for the service out of their end not the labels. The main thing I got from this book is that a good old boy mentality pervades the entire industry, and even the highest of label heads have the double-dealing oiliness of mob bosses.With the rise of music streaming this book may not be as relevant as it used to be, but if you're interested in how the music business worked in the old days, it's a sobering read.

Publisher Sandycove yesterday said: “We’re delighted with the early success of The Hitmen and we’re sure it’s going to go on and be a massive seller for us. This book exposes the way record companies regularly cheat and scam their artists out of tens of thousands of dollars and the payola schemes of the 1980s.

Sure there were some losses like Jacko and Whitney Houston, but the inability to create many long lasting acts over the last 30 years is amazing. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. It's competently but not amazingly well written and seems to suffer from a focus bias based on the author's sources. A NEW book by two Irish Sun journalists has shot straight to the number one spot in the first week of its release.