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Who lasts in the music industry — and why?
The music business is defined by volatility. For every artist who sustains a career, many more fall away, despite talent, acclaim, or early success. Rollercoaster examines what enables some musicians to endure while others disappear.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than seventy artists and industry insiders, Keith Jopling offers a clear-eyed, behind-the-scenes account of how careers in music are built, tested, and sustained. These are artists who have been dropped by labels, lost bandmates, experienced both commercial failure and success, broken up and re-formed — and still found ways to continue.
Looking beyond individual stories, Rollercoaster situates artistic longevity within the wider structures of the modern music industry, from the attention economy to the growing concentration of power among platforms and corporations. Why do so few musicians retain control over long-term careers in a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars?
An insider’s guide to survival in modern music, Rollercoaster goes beyond the personal highs and lows to reveal the forces that make—or break—artistic longevity today, from the attention economy to the tightening grip of platforms and corporate gatekeepers.
