Earworm: A novel about the music industry

What happens when artificial intelligence and the music business collide? The future of the industry is at stake. In this entertaining techno-thriller, Sean McManus takes a slice through the music industry: from the boardroom to the stage; from the studio to the record fair. The story explores how fans relate to their favourite bands, how businesses can use technology to manipulate consumers, and what would happen if the music business disappeared overnight. Sean McManus is a professional writer who has contributed to magazines including Musician, Making Music, Melody Maker, and Future Music. He has written more than ten non-fiction books about technology and business. This is his first novel. "One of those reads that not only peers behind the curtain of the music industry, but offers up some food for thought too. It's a delightfully cynical glance into the murky workings of a crumbling music industry." "Raising a number of surprisingly sophisticated issues, this book is enjoyably cynical about the seemingly cold-hearted and impenetrable nature of the record industry and peppered with a number of highly comical cameos from the cream of rock'n'roll, which ensures that it never feels like heavy going." "A fun novel about the problems faced by musicians in making their mark on a music industry that's falling apart. A bitter satire that works its way up to a memorable finale." "The novel satirises the music industry and the clichéd types that populate it, the lead character an affable fellow who you can't help but like - his meditations at his monitor screen, desperately trying to sort ideas, will be familiar to most of us who create music either for a living or for love. Amusing and well written."