Darknet Blog and Mash-Ups
One of favorite readings from the semester in Creative Industries was Darknet by j.d. Lasica. Don't get me wrong, I am still a card carrying member of the Business Students of America and will likely play my part in pursuit of monopoly margins at the cost of social gain at some indeterminate time in the future. But, I found the tales of those fighting the establishment in Darknet to be quite logical.
I have made an effort to begin to follow the Darknet Blog and recently read a note on cease-and-desist letters from Warner music for a mash-up album that goes directly to a discussion we had in class this year.
One of the most valuable aspects of a course like Creative Industries is the potential to truly understand both sides of an argument like fair usage of media. Because the companies are perceived to have all the power, it is common to just center on instances where that power is seemingly abused. I think spots which show low-level employees from the film industry asking you not to take their jobs away through piracy was a pretty poor retort. But it is true that the economic incentives of entertaining us are very important and no one wants to see those eroded to the point where we can ONLY get long-tail.
I agree that the establishment will continue to make their profits for a long time to come (and hopefully they are hiring some MBA's along the way). But the voice of the consumer is getting stronger everyday and I for one and confident and happy that the power will balance and good content for small groups will become more and more the norm.
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