Fred Goodman

The mega-label behind artists from Cee Lo Green to Green Day, Warner Music Group, recently agreed to be sold to a London-based oil and media conglomerate called Access Industries. We talk with Fred Goodman, author of “Fortune’s Fool: Edgar Bronfman Jr., Warner Music, And An Industry In Crisis,” about the history of Warner and what its sale could mean for the music industry.

Fred Goodman discusses what happened when Napster made music available free online, and the music industry found itself turned upside-down and fighting for its life. In Fortune’s Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis, he looks at Edgar M. Bronfman Jr., who took over the Warner Music Group in 2004, and his mission to create a new kind of record executive and bring the music industry fully into the Internet age.

We consider the gravesites of forgotten famous people, the life cycle of the lowly mayfly (in a play by David Ives), and the staying power of music by Dick Connette and Sonya Cohen, from the band "Last Forever," who perform their music live in the studio.

Regina ...