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The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism Hardcover – January 8, 2008

by Matt Mason (Author)

4.2 35 ratings

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Draws on the insights of an iPod music fan and an IT guru to counsel readers on the social and technological relevance of today's interface between pop culture and innovation, in an account that charts the rise of various youth movements, from pirate radio to remix culture, to track their broader influence on society. 35,000 first printing.

From Publishers Weekly

Music journalist Mason, a former pirate radio and club DJ in London, explores how open source culture is changing the distribution and control of information and harnessing the old system of punk capitalism to new market conditions governing society. According to Mason, this movement's creators operate according to piratical tactics and are changing the very nature of our economy. He charts the rise of the ideas and social experiments behind these latter-day pirates, citing the work of academics, historians and innovators across a multitude of fields. He also explores contributions by visionaries like Andy Warhol, 50 Cent and Dr. Yuref Hamied, who was called a pirate and a thief after producing anti-HIV drugs for Third World countries that cost as little as $1 a day to produce. Pirates, Mason states, sail uncharted waters where traditional rules don't apply. As a result, they offer great ways to service the public's best interests. According to Mason, how people, corporations and governments react to these changes is one of the most important economic and cultural questions of the 21st century. Well-written, entertaining and highly original, Mason offers a fascinating view of the revolutionary forces shaping the world as we know it. (Jan. 8)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

MATT MASON is an award-winning writer, consultant, and entrepreneur based in New York City. He was the founding editor in chief of the underground fanzine RWD, which he helped grow into the U.K.’s number one urban music magazine and one of the world’s leading urban music websites.

Print length

313 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Free Press
Publication date

January 8, 2008
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

1416532188
ISBN-13

978-1416532187
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Free Press; 1st edition (January 8, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416532188
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416532187
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,970,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,114 in Rap Music (Books)
- #13,487 in Marketing (Books)
- #149,452 in Social Sciences (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 35 ratings

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Matt Mason

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Matt Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London, going on to become founding Editor-in-Chief of the seminal magazine RWD. In 2004, he was selected as one of the faces of Gordon Brown's Start Talking Ideas campaign, and was presented the Prince's Trust London Business of the Year Award by HRH Prince Charles.

He has written and produced TV series, comic strips, viral videos and records, and his journalism has appeared in The Observer Music Monthly, VICE, Complex and other publications in more than 12 countries around the world. He recently founded the non-profit media company Wedia with his wife Emily. He lives in New York City.

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Jens Guld

On pirates and their enemies

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2008

Verified Purchase

After James Watt and the invention of the steam engine, political and economic power has become more and more centralized, but now that the personal computer has been invented and has become so cheap that the price is not a bottleneck, there is a tide going the other way. And it is speeding up.
This is what this book is about. The author uses/describes the music scene mostly, for that is what he knows about, and also of course the PC scene, since the personal computer is the Music Liberation Front's first choice of Kalashnikov. For me the book is not a keeper, but it is definitely a must-read.
You should also read The Long Tail How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand if you haven't already. You can download the original article for free if you go to Wired's homepage.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Pirate's Rule

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2008

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This is probably the most enlightening book I've read this year. I knew that file-sharing and open source were bigger issues than kids vs the record companies or geeks vs Microsoft. However, it was a little hard for my sixty-year-old brain to figure out the real issue--the excesses of capitalism and how the two relate. This book lays it out. There are still some unresolved issues in this area. The author acknowledges that rather frankly. He also points out the futility of trying to put the genie back in the bottle. The way forward is not towards bigger and more powerful companies that control everything through draconian copyright laws. Creativity wants to be free, unfettered and fun. The future looks good, if a little bumpy, pirates and all.

7 people found this helpful

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M. Cobo

A solid read

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2015

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This felt more like a collection of (extremely coherent and admirably self-referential) essays than a wiggle compelling narrative, although I did appreciate the author's nuanced understanding of piracy. The only real watchout is the length of the chapters; each one is incredibly dense and completely worthy of a measured, focused read, although it's hard to describe a book as faulty when in reality I may well have just read it too fast.

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josephmisiti

but the content pretty dated if you are reading in it 2015

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book was interesting, but the content pretty dated if you are reading in it 2015. It does continue to drill the point that the only way to beat piracy is to complete directly against it (Steve Jobs)

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Extremely wonderful book.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2008

Earlier this year Matt (the author) sent me a message and said that he was writing a book about how corporations have trouble adapting to the changing times and needs of people in the Information Age. Just recently he started his blog The Pirate's Dilemma ([...]) that explains this phenomenon further every day. I couldn't wait for the book to drop so I asked him to shoot me one...one was already forthcoming and it appeared in the mail the very next day via his publicist. Let me break it down for y'all:

As we all know, youth culture has helped to change and reshape the world over and over again throughout history. Ever since World War 2 ended and the world at large became aware that teenagers even existed, the world hasn't been the same since. The old saying is that necessity is the mother of invention, whenever there has been an overlooked or under represented segment in society they have made their presence felt by creating their own culture. This culture usually comes with it's own brand of music, dancing or a style of dress. Once this culture hits the public consciousness then corporations develop the need/want to turn this audience into consumers of their product and convey a message to them that they "get" you and support your lifestyle. The thing is that since the advent of cool hunting and mass advertising has oversaturated the marketplace people can just tune out all those advertisments. Furthermore, with so many advances in technology today the knowledgeable consumer can pretty much create their own products and cut out the big corporations.

Since these same corporations are trying to jump on that new niche culture to gain a cache of cool, these new niche markets/cultures have adapted to the climate and become harder and harder to nail downby ad agencies. The same 40 songs being played over and over again on the radio that all sound exactly the same have driven many listeners away and res. The same old stories about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and whoever's been kicked off the reality show du jour getting reported on your daily news rather than real journalism has driven people away from the news media. Where do these people go? Well, since we have the technology at our disposal we begin to bridge those gaps ourselves, pooling our collective resources, sharing information and creating that we we can't find in existance currently.

This in turn pisses of these big businesses and corporations. They are usually slow to adapt to change and they want to stay in power. This struggle for leverage and ownership goes on between big businesses and the consumer. The consumer wants more leeway, looser boundaries, more input and better service from the provider and big business tries to tighten the reins and throw lawsuits at these pirates threatening the status quo. The way they see it, these pirates are causing them to lose money. The way the consumer sees it, we weren't going to spend the money because the product doesn't fit our needs anymore.

In this quickly changing world where computer technology improves the speed of the transmission of data every three to six months they'll become a time where information can be passed instaneously. If you put up the wrong information on a messageboard, several messages will correct it within seconds. Any mistakes on Wikipedia acan be fixed almost immediately as opposed to a closed source website that would have the erroneous information posted there for only God knows how long. We are in the Information Age and technology has given us the tools to modify, create, and innovate the world around us. Corporations and big businesses don't know how to handle this new age where all of the power is in the hands of the consumer. No longer do they dictate to us what we want, need or what is valid...now we do it to THEM.

The music industry and film/television industry realize are in flux as music and films are being streamed and downloaded either before or the same time as the premiere dates. The news media is being outdone by bloggers and independent journalists that want serious and unbiased news coverage. In this book, Matt Mason brilliantly tells the history of the phenomenon of youth culture and how it has reinvented capitalism and the world as a whole. The whole D.I.Y. ethic that existed in Punk, Disco and Hip Hop has slowly branched out over the years into fields that you normally think weren't even related. They in turn snowballed and have all in effect given birth to The Pirate's Dilemma.

This book is completely fascinating and it grabs your attention from the beginning to the end. I read it straight through in one sitting and I read it over again the day after I got it. You will be so sucked in that you really don't want to put it down. Matt Mason seamlessly tied together how the youth culture of the 60's, the advent of Punk Capitalism, the birth of Disco and subsequently Hip Hop lead into the creation of the personal computer. He then takes us from the ealrly years of the Computer Age to the present day and touches on several subjects all at once without once making you feel like your being beat over the heads with useless information. Who knew that a nun from Dorchester, MA was indirectly responsible for the creation of Disco, House and Garage?Who would've thunk that a bunch of college dropouts who dropped LSD were responsible for the Mac, iPod and iPhone (I did)? I even got my first mention in ever print to make it that much better.

If you're looking for a new book to get get some wrinkles in your brain then this one comes highly recommended from me. Cop this joint mos def!

Dart Adams
[...]

One.

19 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

John G. Hudson

Delivers what it says on the cover

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2009

Verified Purchase

I read 80% of this book with enthusiasm. The author's knowledge of the music industry's developments is very good and well described - I learnt a lot. Also his analysis of how piracy is a significant contributor to capitalism is very convincing. His view on how companies should regard piracy and how they should best compete with it are sound.
However his scientific knowledge is lacking and the idea that a 3D printer which form objects in poor quality brittle plastic can replace manufactured goods is not credible. His world view from the music industry is one of music, videos, clothes and his opinions cedrtainly hold weight there.

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