Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work is one of the latest additions to a growing body of literature that focuses on the role of the creative worker in the popular music industries. Stahl's text is premised on the assumption that the experience of workers involved in the creation and performance of popular music is observably different from other types of workers and therefore worthy of scrutiny. According to the author, the key element of this differentness is the notion of freedom:

Although Stahl's bleak assessment of what work is like for ‘most people, most of the time’, it is not an account that will be recognisable to all readers; the significant idea introduced here is the illusory nature of the ‘apparent freedom’ enjoyed by these global superstars when compared with other workers. Here the author reveals the essence and consistent thrust of the argument throughout the book: the notion that recording performers are Unfree Masters. That is to say, in some senses they enjoy considerable freedom in their working life, yet in other respects even the most successful performers are indentured to greater corporate powers.

The shorter opening section of the book, Representation, examines the US reality talent TV show, American Idol and the 2004 fly on the wall ‘rockumentary’ Dig!, in order to ‘… explore and analyze the narratives of work, failure, and success offered in two very different representations of musical activity’ (p. 33). Stahl contends that American Idol trades on the extremes between the validation and, crucially, the freedom that success supposedly affords the artist and juxtaposes this with the abject humiliation of failure. Similar critiques of these types of TV talent shows are becoming increasing common and are not particularly ground breaking. However, this volume is strengthened by the author's willingness to explore areas that are neither at the top nor the bottom of the music industries food chain. Indeed, this appetite for probing less commonly researched areas is the core strength of the text.

An example of this is the decision to scrutinise Dig!, a ‘rockumentary’ charting the relative success of Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dandy Warhols as they strive for success in the mid-range of the music industries spectrum that participants of American Idol will almost certainly never encounter. What links the ‘boom or bust’ performers of American Idol and those in the Indie world of Dig! is the extent to which they are involved in seeking to ‘establish and maintain a non-negotiable baseline of autonomy … while negotiating with powerful individuals and institutions who are motivated by diverging and sometimes conflicting interests’ (p. 227).

The second section of the book, Regulation, is far more challenging and makes more rewarding reading as the author painstakingly explores and theorises the concept of ‘Unfree Masters’. The focus here is on a series of legal cases in California surrounding interpretations of the so-called ‘seven-year rule’ that allows employees to sever ties with their employer after that time, and definitions of what constitutes a ‘work for hire’. The focus is concentrated on the ensuing battles around these statutory and contractual mechanisms as successful performers and the corporations sought to gain favourable rulings. Stahl argues that, in the late 1970s and 1980s, the recording industry became increasingly dependent on the huge profits derived from a relatively few ‘blockbuster’ albums such as Michael Jackson's Thriller. Theoretically, at least, this conferred immense bargaining power onto these artists, necessitating a swift and robust (and ultimately successful) response designed to shut down the potentially ruinous escape routes that had opened up for these artists.

Central to these conflicts are definitions of what type of work is being carried out when record companies, featured artists and performers come together to produce recorded music. For example, recording artists could be viewed as servile employees of a record company. Similarly, these artists enjoy the status of contractors wielding considerable influence over the work they produce and the terms under which it is produced. Stahl argues that, to varying degrees, both of these are simultaneously true (p. 234). The stratification of the creative classes is also explicit in these debates, revealing an inconsistency, not to say a degree of hypocrisy, in the arguments of the star performers and their lawyers. While the composer/performer may strongly object to the record company's assertion that recorded works are created as a ‘work for hire’, they will, at the same time, apply this categorisation to the labour of session musicians on these recordings.

Ultimately, star performers are, in the context of the popular music workforce, masters of the creative classes while at the same time being ‘subject to the superior market power of the monopolistic league of buyers of their services and products’ (p. 231). In spite of the complexities of these multi-layered and often contradictory arguments, the author maintains an impressive clarity that allows a relentless interrogation of the underlying tension between copyright law and recording industry contracts. In doing so, Stahl exposes how the shifting power dynamics constantly alter the conception of autonomy and relative bargaining power of individual creator and corporate rights owner.

In conclusion, Matt Stahl provides an absorbing account of a pivotal period in the history of the recording industry in the United States. However, the greatest triumph of this book is its use of these historical events to expose the oblique nuances and inconsistencies of the politics of work in the recording industry. These observations, in turn, point to broader sociopolitical narratives of freedom in liberal capitalist economies that extend far beyond the milieu of popular music performers. Irrespective of whether one concurs with these analyses, this text is sure to spark further debate and discourse and as such Unfree Masters is a valuable and timely contribution to the field of popular music studies.