Long overdue… but better late than never. Looking to fill your brain with helpful stuff about music online? Go read this man’s book.

David Jennings, rightly happy with his efforts

I met David Jennings at the Music Tank event on Monday night. It was the first time we’d been in the same room together, to my knowledge, but it gave me a bit of a guilty start.

He sent me his book a couple of months back (a few even?) and although I read it, enjoyed it and found it genuinely worthwhile, I am still yet to write anything about it by way of recommendation.

So… let’s fix that. The book’s called Net, Blogs and Rock & Roll — and it looks at the online music world from the perspective of the net-savvy consumer.

That’s not to say that it talks purely about filesharing, though sharing is one of the key strands of the book.

Jennings looks at the complex and varied way that recommendation takes place online, the ways in which opinion-setting takes place and the impact that socially-negotiated communities of listening, user metadata creation and hierarchies of expertise are having on the music industries.

I’m hoping to get to interview David soon for my new podcast… oops – did I just let that out of the bag? Damn.

Well… more on that and some other really exciting new stuff soon. Meanwhile, go buy his book.

Download Andrew Dubber's new book Music in the Digital Age - or, if you already have and you've been enjoying it or finding it useful, please consider paying for it here.