Gambles of a maverick heir in the ailing record industry

 BOOK REVIEW: Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman Jrby Fred Goodman; Simon & Schuster; £18.99 (€22)

EDGAR BRONFMAN jr was known for a couple of things before he took over the helm at Warner Music in 2003. He'd written a few songs (some of them had been recorded by Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick) and produced a few films and theatre shows which didn't set Hollywood or Broadway alight.

Most famously, though, Bronfman was the heir to the Seagram liquor business and had managed to lose $3 billion of his family's cash by disastrously taking them into the entertainment business.

While the process which began when Bronfman bought the MCA label in 1995 did eventually lead - through mergers and acquisitions - to the Universal Music Group, the biggest music company in the recorded music game, it had not been a happy experience for the would-be music mogul.

Bronfman and his family had lost control of that business to Vivendi, the French media company it brought in as strategic partner. Meanwhile, Seagram's lucrative core beverage business had been acquired by its competitors. By late 2001, Bronfman had taken a non-executive back-seat in the music company and was licking his wounds.

When news broke that Bronfman was tabling a $2.6 billion bid for Time-Warner's music group, there were a lot of raised eyebrows. Was this an attempt by Bronfman to make amends for his previous mistakes? Was Bronfman completely insane to be jumping back into the music business at a time when many were getting out as profits decreased and problems increased? Or was it a case that Bronfman knew something about the business no one else did?

Fred Goodman's biography comes into its own when he takes up the story of Bronfman's purchase of Warner Music. It helps, of course, that Goodman knows this neck of the woods very well. His 1996 book The Mansion on the Hillwas a fascinating look at the transformation of the rock music business during the 1970s. That he exuded a healthy scepticism in that book about the colourful businessmen who have always set up shop on the industry's margins augers well for an in-depth look at the life and times of Bronfman.

As befits a veteran reporter, Goodman keeps the story moving with choice anecdotes (such as some very telling observations of senior industry players like Lyor Cohen) and ensures the reader doesn't get bogged down trying to keep track of the various games of corporate musical chairs.

Goodman knows only too well that Bronfman's behaviour over various Vivendi-Universal dealings had irked many industry executives and he doesn't underplay the problems which the businessman brought upon himself the first time around. As Goodman notes, "the Vivendi disaster was as high profile a humiliation as any businessman not sent to prison is likely to endure".

Yet there's no disguising the fact that Goodman does grow to like and admire Bronfman. The businessman who emerges from the pages of Fortune's Foolis a hard-working, diligent, smart character who appears to view the Warner Music move as a chance to rebuild his character and some of his fortune.

But the problem is that hard work alone won't put Warner Music, the record business or indeed Bronfman back on track. It will take a hell of a lot of fresh thinking and it's hard to know from Goodman's portrayal if Bronfman is the man for this task.

Of course, Bronfman couldn't have picked a worse time to buy a music company. The record industry's business model has been torn apart by technological innovations, widespread piracy and reduced revenues. The halcyon days of the 1990s, when booming CD sales meant massive profits for the sector, thanks to that once-in-a-lifetime format trick of getting people to buy the same music twice, were just a fond memory. Most executives were hoping that they'd make it to retirement without seeing the entire industry disappear.

Bronfman certainly deserves plaudits for going against the grain, though many readers will remain puzzled about his motives and where exactly he sees an opportunity to increase the company's value. Sure, he was getting the company cheap. Time Warner were as keen as mustard to sell that arm of the business to reduce the debts accrued during their ill-fated love-in with AOL and revenue has been steady since the takeover.

Warner's digital strategy since the takeover has also been better than that of the company's peers.

But Bronfman has never articulated a clear, unique vision to grow the business, other than as yet unproven deals where the label takes a share of the artist's non-record revenue streams.

Leaving this issue aside - and it's one which is not resolved by the final page - Goodman does a good job of stitching together the narrative of the maverick heir, Warner Music's various travails down through the years, and the bigger picture of a record industry in crisis.

Of course, the story is still unfolding and the recorded music business remains in a considerable state of flux. It remains to be seen if Bronfman's Warner Music gamble will pay off.