It was supposed to be just another bumper year for the record business. The industry was firing on all cylinders and growing exponentially; CD was king and bringing in phenomenal sums of money. The good times, culturally and financially, were rolling. Yet by December 1999, at the dawn of the new millennium, a bomb had been set squarely under the core business – the arrival of digital as we know it today. The story of 1999 is one of control: who had it, who lost it and who wanted more. It w...

When a musician dies, it is rarely the end of their story. While death can propel megastars to even further success, artists overlooked in their lifetime might also find a new type of fame. But a badly timed move or the wrong deal can see the artist die all over again. Colonel Tom Parker, the former carnival huckster, understood this high-wire act implicitly and the posthumous career of Elvis Presley has provided a template for everyone else. Estates have two jobs: keeping the artist’s nam...