Heylin's secret history of the covert culture of "bootlegging" digs into many previously uncovered areas of this complex and completely underground music industry. "(An) unholy mix of consumerism, conspiracy, fetishism and felony" (David Dalton) that "methodically punctures each and every record industry argument against bootlegging, while acknowledging that bootleggers themselves are often without the purest motives". (Los Angeles Reader). Illustrations.

In Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heylin examines the entire modern history of this underground culture: from what defines a bootleg and its complex and protean legal status, to a full history of bootlegs' production and distribution, to what's contained on some of the most notorious bootlegs and how to find them. Along with many illustrations of the creative packages, this is the whole story of the $250 million industry that sustains itself on the great figures of rock music and their biggest admirers.