Tomas A. Lipinski. The Librarian's Legal Companion for Licensing Information Resources and Services. Chicago: Neal-Schuman, 2013, 734p. paper, $130.00 (ISBN: 978-1-55570-610-4). LCCN: 2012-18173

a variety of reasons, did not come under federal law until the Sound Recording Act of 1972. Though certainly a milestone in the record industry’s efforts to quash piracy, Cummings notes that this new law was a harbinger of more changes to come, and it “marked a turning point in American thought about culture, technology, and property” of all types. As the Copyright Act of 1976 and subsequent laws and rulings would later reflect, “the new way of thinking emphasized protection of capital outlays...rather than incentives [for artists to create new works]. By reinterpreting copyright in this way, Congress showed a willingness to view whatever was good for business as being good for copyright and the public in general” (135). This is one of many strong, compelling points conveyed in the book, characterizing not only how copyright was remade during the twentieth century but also how large media companies have gained the upper hand. Though ultimately the record industry lobbied successfully for changes in the law to protect its interests, Cummings observes a growing uneasiness about the current state of copyright, noting “a diverse movement among scholars and activists [that has] emerged to counter the perceived excesses of intellectual property law in the twenty-first century” (203). With Democracy of Sound, Cummings joins that movement, expanding and reframing ideas put forth in other notable recent books that grapple with the past, present, and future of technology, copyright, and personal liberty, such as Lewis Hyde’s Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010) and Siva Vaidhyanathan’s The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), along with serious appraisals of the record industry, like Steve Knopper’s Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age (New York: Free Press, 2009). “Uncritical support for intellectual property rights places private interests high above those of the public” (217), Cummings concludes, and Democracy of Sound is an important resource to inform further such critique. For that reason, this book should be part of every library collection, and it is essential reading for all librarians, who will benefit from the historical lessons and be reminded of the fundamental freedoms our work relies on and must strive to uphold.—D.J. Hoek, Northwestern University.