The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism

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The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 353 ratings · 67 reviews

It started with punk. Hip-hop, rave, graffiti, and gaming took it to another level, and now modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly global at the same time.In "The Pirate's Dilemma," "VICE" magazine's Matt Mason -- poised to become the Malcolm Gladwell of the iPod Generation -- brings the exuberance of a...more

Hardcover, 313 pages

Published January 8th 2008 by Free Press (first published January 8th 2007)

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Jul 19, 2012 Sandi rated it 1 of 5 stars

Occasionally Mason is a good storyteller, but his argument has many flaws. He lumps all "pirate" activity together, and lauds it as disrupting evil, greedy capitalistic forces, but he doesn't recognize that it is quite possible to be a greedy, self-interested pirate...and actually many of the situations that he describes ARE self-interested.

The opening situation in the book is of a guy silencing all radios within a 30 foot radius of his car, using a modified iTrip. It silences an annoying boomb...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Justine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic

The Pirate's Dilemma tells the story of how youth culture drives innovation and is changing the way the world works.

RWD magazine founding editor-in-chief Matt Mason suggests that at the heart of innovation lies an intersection of piracy, youth and business, and concludes piracy to be just another business model. Given this, the dilemma should not be about how we compete against pirates and how we treat them but becomes more about how we can become better by recognising and capitalising on pirat...more

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Jul 11, 2009 Nicholas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: business, internet

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. If you fight pirates you deny yourself a source of revenue. They cannot be stopped and your competitors will not be so fearful.

Quotes:

"If our property can be infinitely reproduced and instantaneously distributed all over the planet without cost, without our knowledge, without it's even leaving our possession, how can we protect it? How are we going to get paid for the work we do without minds? And, if we can't get paid, what will assure the continued creation and distribution of such work?"

"The...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Solid book laying out the argument for why pirates and youth subcultures from punk & hip hop to open source software developers are all 'Punk Capitalists' reinventing business models and creating new markets and revenue opportunities. Author, Matt Mason makes a compelling argument for openness, collaboration and the value of altruism (vs. self interest) in business and why the best strategy for responding to pirates is to compete with them, not try to shut them down.

Mason is also well verse...more

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Jul 05, 2008 Erik rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Erik by: StumbleUpon!

Shelves: non-fiction, economics, politics, technology, culture, available-for-borrowing

A good book detailing the rise and fall of youth culture, hip-hop, graffiti, medicine patents, and many other things. Also includes a great analysis of the open-source community and the economic and political motives behind all of it. It's a very music-centric book, linking what we see in the physical world of art with what we are doing online.

This book is available online as a free PDF.

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Oct 08, 2012 Phil rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This was a fun read with some interesting points, but taken as a whole Mason's argument is a little facile.

Most of the book consists of examples of (generally youth-oriented) subcultures that developed into major commercial or cultural successes. Mason's examples include punk (focusing on its D.I.Y. ethos as an example of the pirate spirit), hip-hop, early disco, etc. All of these subcultures were created and expanded outside of the mainstream before being absorbed or incorporated (some would sa...more This was a fun read with some interesting points, but taken as a whole Mason's argument is a little facile.

Most of the book consists of examples of (generally youth-oriented) subcultures that developed into major commercial or cultural successes. Mason's examples include punk (focusing on its D.I.Y. ethos as an example of the pirate spirit), hip-hop, early disco, etc. All of these subcultures were created and expanded outside of the mainstream before being absorbed or incorporated (some would say co-opted) by it. Mason argues that existing commercial interests ignore or marginalize these movements at their own peril.

Mason's "pirate's dilemma" extends from this, stating that rather than wasting effort trying to stamp out piracy, companies are better off competing with pirates. ("Pirate's Dilemma" is a bit of a misnomer; pirates experience no such dilemma, it's the entrenched commercial interests that) When that happens, society has a whole benefits. Sounds good on the surface.

The problem is that Mason's definition of a "pirate" is incredibly broad. His pirates aren't just those who infringe upon copyright (i.e., how the term is most commonly used today), they're basically anyone who operates outside the established system, or anyone who participates in youth culture. This definition wasn't especially convincing. Mash-up artists and other remix culture participants use existing work to create new material; defining them as "pirates" seems reasonable. However, the early punks described in this book were explicitly about rejecting existing work and building something new. Both mash-up artists and punks are pirates according to Mason, but it seems doubtful that most people would agree with him.

In the end, this is an interesting look about how, as noted in the book's subtitle, youth culture can have a cultural impact and serve as a source of revenue to savvy marketers. It's not, however, a particularly deep or convincing look at piracy. The use of the word piracy acts as a red herring, and deleting the few brief references to copyright infringement would result in a stronger book.(less)

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Aug 08, 2011 Nura Yusof rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant. Insightful. A great account of modern-day piracy. A clarion call for all to embrace the pirate within us. Mason makes the term 'pirate' cool.

The part I found most profound was how marketers nowadays are quickly latching on to the latest fad/'in-thing' as a way to connect with their consumers which I think is a terrible thing to do (and this coming from an ad person). That latest fad or craze could've have become part of modern culture but instead it becomes commercialized. Instead of...more

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May 27, 2011 Ant rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: culture

I began reading this book because it was a free download on this site. I’m loving my free eBooks for the reasons of both environmental conservation & market freedom, true market freedom, not the kind sprouted by laissez faire economists to benefit the wealthy. I really didn’t expect much from this ‘free’ book.
The first few chapters while interesting seemed to rub me up the wrong way initially, portraying the punk scene as a new free economic force paving the way for the do it yourself freedo...more I began reading this book because it was a free download on this site. I’m loving my free eBooks for the reasons of both environmental conservation & market freedom, true market freedom, not the kind sprouted by laissez faire economists to benefit the wealthy. I really didn’t expect much from this ‘free’ book.
The first few chapters while interesting seemed to rub me up the wrong way initially, portraying the punk scene as a new free economic force paving the way for the do it yourself freedom to come. While this is the ideal, it obviously didn’t pan out that way unless you were an entrepreneurial genius or simply at the right place, right time. Today is as hard, if not harder to survive the rat race than it was in the ‘70’s. What began to draw me into the book as I continued reading wasn’t the idealism but the culture map it served as while describing the rise of one subculture after another, including Pirate radio scene, DJ Mixers, Hip Hop & culture jammers. All very interesting in context. Mason leaves no stone unturned as he moves through the movements that affected society & either co-opted or subverted main stream culture. As exciting as it all seems though this very cynical punk could only really see the co-opting without a great deal of payback to the community at large in anything more than small culture shifts should you wish to change your hairstyle.
If there was a glimmer of hope in the book it is the chapter discussing Open source technology & the politics of Copyright. Again I had issues with the typical stance of Gates bad, Jobs good as Microsoft drift towards an open source & Freeware compromises while Apple continue to lock down their apps. This naiveté that Apple is somehow still ‘good’ displayed a locked down view of the author. Mason did however brilliantly cover the issues of patenting pharmaceuticals & genes so as to put it in the moral light it needs to be viewed in. He also discussed the economic benefits of true competition that pharmaceutical generics could bring which, as a fresh break from the rock’n’roll which this books framework was hung on, I found he discussed with great clarity.
By the end of the book I was hooked. Mason knew what he was talking about & had a good grasp at articulating the logic behind his ideas. I was let down a little by the fact that only a monetory economic paradigm was discussed, that in the end, it was still about fierce competition & money, albeit he talked about increased philanthropy. There was little discussion about the possibility of a truly free economy as in the post scarcity paradigm which would closely follow the uptake of such technologies as 3D printers but then again, this has only been considered marginally possible over the past couple of years. That’s a long time these days.
(less)

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Sep 12, 2010 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

This truly helped establish my feelings on the many benefits of art and the internet, and my feelings on greedy SOB's manipulating the law to stifle future creativity in this world so they can benefit financially.

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Dec 07, 2010 Dan Solomon is currently reading it

So far, pretty disappointing -- it's mostly Mason offering shallow analysis of things that most people who'd care to pick up his book are already well-versed in. (You mean blogs are popular now?) He also fairly gushes over anyone who figures out a way to make money off of something with anti-establishment credentials (he uses the term "punk capitalists" over and over) and is basically a giant turn-off. I'm nearly to the end of chapter three, and I'll give him another 20-30 pages before I give up...more

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May 09, 2009 Bobo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mason's core argument on piracy is persuasive, and his observations are good - particularly on the digital music revolution. His closing chapter distills the 'dilemma' very nicely. But he has approached the topic very broadly, and uses it as an excuse to go off on lengthy tangents about related stuff that he knows and likes - largely the history of popular music. His evidence is also a bit suspect at times - some of the stats and facts he drops in raise more questions than they resolve. Still, t...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Misti rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, science, pirates-vikings-other-sea-farers

Yet another non-fic that connects to Gladwell's The Tipping Point. However this was a nice little variation on Gladwell's definitions of viral connections, and I thoroughly enjoyed the anecdotes contained within. This book takes the reader on a merry jaunt through the roots of piracy and the adaptation of various media to give the public what they want and to fill empty niches. My biggest complaint about this book is that the author's connections to the music industry mean that the VAST majorit...more

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Aug 11, 2008 Bruce rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes reading Malcolm Gladwell

According to Matt Mason in The Pirate’s Dilemma, “Copyright laws are encroaching on the public domain, but if the history of pirates is anything to go by, such laws are not often observed, become impossible to enforce, and eventually change.” (p. 99)

Okay, folks, get ready for a rather lengthy review of The Pirate’s Dilemma, or rather, a brief review of Matt Mason’s book, followed by a more extended discussion of some of the ideas contained therein as they relate to two recent DC Bar-sponsored p...more According to Matt Mason in The Pirate’s Dilemma, “Copyright laws are encroaching on the public domain, but if the history of pirates is anything to go by, such laws are not often observed, become impossible to enforce, and eventually change.” (p. 99)

Okay, folks, get ready for a rather lengthy review of The Pirate’s Dilemma, or rather, a brief review of Matt Mason’s book, followed by a more extended discussion of some of the ideas contained therein as they relate to two recent DC Bar-sponsored programs in conjunction with my current thinking about copyright law. For my fellow pedants, this essay is a logical partner to the April 3 note I called, A Digital Needle in the Haystack: Finding the Good Stuff Online, which considered problems of online plagiarism and provenance as well as the part from my 2/11/08 Kickoff to an odd-thoughts blog, a relevant paragraph of which could easily serve as the synopsis of The Pirate’s Dilemma (and this very post), to wit:

So here's my rule in our great goldfish-bowl of a world. If you like anything you see badly enough that you feel it should be copied and spread like gospel (or even perhaps smeared like cream cheese)... go ahead. Take it. Do with it what you will. Just please be sure to credit your original source (that would be me, I believe, as the author here). I make no claims to originality, except in the copyright sense. All my thoughts and work are surely derivative of whatever I've consumed (and the more recent, the more influence on the regurgitation), but at least it's been processed through this man's wetware.

My point here is less to quote myself, than to indicate the emergence of a new zeitgeist from a mere two data points. First, the brief review. Matt Mason’s book is a quick read that offers glib patter (e.g., "DJ Fezzy is getting ready for his set. It’s a cold, dark Christmas Eve in his studio, and the time is coming up to 9:00 p.m. Fezzy has come pre¬pared for a crazy-hot show, packing an arsenal of scripted material, instruments, and records, set to deliver a sonic blast of talk radio and live music. Then he’ll throw down on the wheels of steel," p. 39, referencing the first radio show broadcast in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden), lots of annoying internal hype (e.g., "That is… perhaps the most important economic and cultural question of the twenty-first century," p. 4; “The game has changed,” p. 236), a bunch of fascinating anecdotal examples of “piracy,” and a game theory-inspired model for contemporary business, sans analysis or conclusion. The anecdotes and the initial definition of the dilemma (compete with or try to suppress piracy?) are the book’s strength, and worthy of a couple hours’ browse. The book’s weaknesses preclude a need to read, however, given that much of the text is given over to filibustering platitudes and inconsistent (and therefore largely meaningless) application of the concepts “piracy” (used here to cover a gamut ranging from any crime that can be construed as social protest to any unregulated activity that has market potential, such as the first broadcasts that emerged with the discovery of radio transmission), “punk capitalism” (which ranges from idealistic kids working for love rather than money to do-it-yourself entrepreneurship), and “hip-hop culture” (the vaguest term of all, which Mason applies to everything from “youth culture” or “youth movements” as a whole dating back to the mid-to-late ‘80s to anything involving the combination of pre-existing elements that Mason likes to call remixing irrespective of context, as he uses it freely to reference collage, architectural influence/homage, music sampling, and which extrapolates as well to grade school papers derived from traditional secondary source material).

[The rest of this 21,220 character review can be found in my 'notes' section under the title, Building A Free Society: Toward A More Perfect Copyright Law or on the MuseoTech blog.](less)

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May 19, 2008 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Corporations have a choice to make--become pirates or suffer at the hands of pirates. Mason is a music journalist, so he backs up his arguments with anecdotes from the music industry. I didn't expect to end up with a clearer understanding of hip-hop, disco, grime, and underground radio, but unexpectedly I did. I know Mason's thesis does apply and will apply to every industry, it certainly works beautifully with the music industry--I just wish I could more cleanly apply it to publishing.

What thi...more

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Mar 21, 2008 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-the-hard-copy

The first 3/4 of the book is about examples of how artists used music and cultural to subvert societal norms and question the status quo, mainly about the hip hop, punk, disco, rave, and grime, pirate radio, pop art, video game moding, and graffiti culture movements of the last 50 years or so. The last quarter explains the actual dilemma itself which is pretty simple: companies should use work of pirates to their advantage and stop spending resources to fight them.

I was hoping for more historica...more

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Mar 02, 2010 michelle added it

Shelves: 2010, work

ugh. i read this for a book group that i didn't even attend, but i kind of wish i'd been able to, just for a better opportunity to complain about it. there's nothing seriously flawed in his argument here, i just found the whole thing really tiresome. lots of examples of "pirates" changing culture, and lots of SAYING "look man, we need to embrace this" but... i don't know, maybe i'm coming into the conversation to well-informed already, but this book didn't tell me anything that made me stop and...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Jessica Buike rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really got a lot out of this book - I would recommend it to anyone who owns or is interested in owning a small business! It had some interesting information and tips on creating a different type of work culture based on youth countercultures (both present day and previous). There was a little too much repetition in many spots, and a couple of editing errors. There were also several interruptions in the flow of thoughts, but still a lot of good ideas on the changing business environment.

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May 06, 2012 Monica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Discussion on the ethical and cultural issues regarding the drive of capitalism in a world that has open source sharing and DRM. The link between popular cultural and social networking is obvious to most yet Mason uses it to argue for a new model of marketing and consumerism that addresses the lack of a generation gap and the rise of branding. Appreciated the Prisoner's Dilemma as to whoever confesses first has a higher chance of getting away or serving less time.

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Oct 04, 2011 Paul rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mason begins with some interesting stories. However, he paints the world with extremely broad strokes, and the titular "Pirate's Dilemma" doesn't even really make sense. Mason is also obsessed with the idea of 3-D printers and the thought that soon, everything will be downloadable. That may happen one day, but it's centuries off.

By the end, I was tired of the book and Mason's generalizations, I'm afraid. I can't recommend this book.

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Jan 21, 2009 Grainger rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very good summary of the evolution of the music business, as well as how intellectual piracy can actually benefit some industries. Its handling of general (including biotech) intellectual property law is somewhat cursory and a little mis-informed, but as it pertains to the music industry it is quite good. I also picked up a few great music recommendations in the hip-hop and electronic music generas.

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Jun 07, 2011 Mike Rosenthal rated it 3 of 5 stars

great concepts, but really not a great writer. the core idea here is that in order to thrive as a business in a world of infinitely replicable goods, we take the prisoner's dilemma (where game theory states its always in our best interest to work solely in our personal best interest) and factor in the good of society in our decision making. if we can benefit society with our business model, AND monetize the new value that the pirates have discovered, then theres hope for a new type of business t...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Andrew R. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mason, a true scholar of hip-hop, has fused a cultural retrospective on popular music, including punk, rock, and hip-hop, into a fascinating trip through DIY culture, corporatism, copyright, and what he calls punk capitalism. Required reading for marketers and businesspeople of all stripes.

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Dec 15, 2008 justin stepney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good times & learned many things about different people that have come in the musesick 'industry', I just wish these people had read other books at their times of subversions on other levels i guess. I imagine we'd have a different atmosphere and book here..

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May 08, 2011 Mark Polino rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Eh. The book focuses on "pirates" who've succeeded like folks from the Punk movement or the Grafitti movement. I found the translations to action essentially useless and even the background somewhat fuzzy. All in all, the book didn't wow me.

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Mar 04, 2011 Saugat Banerjee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wonderful insightful book about Hip hop culture, Remix and Open source amongst other things and Piracy in each of the industries. I liked it. The Outro part of the book where analogy with Prisoner's Dilemma is made is the best part of the book.

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Jul 03, 2012 Benjamin Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This mashup is a celebration of the mashup and how it's effected economics. Global hip-hop influence and punk rock aesthetics have changed the distribution cycle.

Industries must adapt to pirates behaviors or they will fall behind.

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Mar 29, 2009 Topher rated it 5 of 5 stars

This one had been on my list for a while - the author had been on either the Colbert Report or the Daily Show, and I made a note to check out the book. I found this one to be well written, good flow, and informative.

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Sep 22, 2009 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very informative and relevant to anyone who works in industries that depend on the internet. Great history and summarization of trends and how companies have reacted, succesfully and not-so-successfully.

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Jan 17, 2013 Gioele Di Gianni rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a book that open your mind and your way of thinking. There are a lot of great example matched to the culture of DIY in the music such as punk and others nice stories. Really suggested!

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Nov 07, 2008 Drew Lackovic rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a really interesting book. I stumbled across it while researching for books to teach in my comp class, and it reminds me of Abbie Hoffman's stuff, except without the LSD. Mason delivers a very powerful argument; piracy of intellectual property is driving change in today's capitalist scene, and that change is ultimately a good shift.

From flash mobs, to underground music, pirate radio, and punk capitalism, Mason shows how youth culture is turning the tables on traditional concepts of adve...more

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