Hit Men

Hit Men, written by Fredric Dannen is an excelent book about the music recording industry. I just received my copy and am enjoying the first chapters right now. You can find more about it at Amazon. What I really must highlight is Robert Christgau's review of it:

But at some level they recognize what Dannen will not--historically, crime and pop music go way back. All the formally renegade urban styles--jazz up through at least the '30s, and also Argentine tango and Greek rebetika and Portugese fado and many others--thrived in the underworld, and the ad hoc unpredictability of the work has always favored tough guys who know how to collect what's owed them.