Body of Work - by Keith Jopling (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An alternative history of the album, focussing on the format's turbulent life through the digital music era since 1999 through to today, Body of Work explores why we should still bother to listen to music in 40 minute chunks.

The album is a perfect vessel for the art of song. It is the format all artists aspire to, even after nearly three decades of being hammered by the onslaught of digital music. As of 2025, the album is still strong and getting stronger. Jack Antonoff, one of the music world's most successful producers, collaborators and a substantial music artist in his own right (under the artist name Bleachers) knows this. He recently expressed, in no uncertain terms, that "the album is God."

"The CD bloated and eventually devalued the album. Napster then came along and atomised it. Apple's iTunes unbundled it (with the music industry's blessing). The album saw them all off, and then the juggernaut arrived. Spotify decided that the best way to kill the album was to put it on automatic shuffle, until Adele stepped in and had a word. In the end, the album endured. Like a human turned cyborg and then somehow back to human, the album reassembled itself".

Jopling tells music industry insider stories, concisely sums up cultural and commercial trends, retells the album's history in a fresh and personal way and looks to its future. The book takes on the absurdity of measuring album sales in the subscription market dominated by Spotify (which doesn't report albums sales). It draws on dozens of in-depth interviews with established music artists about why the album is still, indeed, God, and why it probably always will be.

About the Author

Jopling has worked for Sony Music, Spotify and EMI, and UK and global music trade associations. He has lectured at Henley Business School, NYU, BIMM, ACM, Belmont, Syracuse, Westminster and the University of Krems, Austria. He started the music podcast The Art of Longevity in 2021 and recently produced a documentary episode based on his in-depth podcast interviews with renowned musicians.