Sunday Video: Matt Mason explains the ‘Pirate’s Dilemma’

Today’s video features one of the most interesting talks I’ve stumbled across in a long while, and it’s likely because it’s on a topic that’s quite timely: piracy. In this 18-minute talk by journalist, author and pirate radio DJ Matt Mason at PopTech 2008, he explains the focus of his book, “Pirate’s Dilemma,” and lays…

Today’s video features one of the most interesting talks I’ve stumbled across in a long while, and it’s likely because it’s on a topic that’s quite timely: piracy. In this 18-minute talk by journalist, author and pirate radio DJ Matt Mason at PopTech 2008, he explains the focus of his book, “Pirate’s Dilemma,” and lays out seven “abundantly clear things about abundance.”

With the changing landscape of the entertainment industry, namely the music and movie industry, the way in which corporations fight piracy is vitally important. But as Mason argues, it shouldn’t be a fight directly against the pirates. Mason quotes Steve Jobs, the tech CEO who successfully took on music pirates with iTunes: “If you want to stop piracy, the way to stop it is by competing with it.”

If you have 17 minutes today, or at some point this week, I strongly encourage you give the video below a view. After you watch it, ask yourself how you can partake in the effect Mason calls the “virtuous circle.”

Here’s an outline of Mason’s seven abundantly clear things about abundance:

  1. 2:27 – If you want to beat pirates, copy them.
  2. 6:57 – “Good business is the best art.” – Andy Warhol
  3. 8:26 – The art of storytelling is changing because of abundance.
  4. 9:38 – Don’t let legal ruin a good remix without talking to marketing first
  5. 11:37 – Abundance is better than advertising.
  6. 13:48 – Some good experiences will always be scarce.
  7. 15:15 – In an economy based on abundance, your business model needs to be a virtuous circle.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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