Free Ride: How the Internet is Destroying the Culture Business and How it Can Fight Back

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Robert Levine

Free Ride

How the Internet is Destroying the Culture Business and How it Can Fight Back

Robert Levine

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English

Vintage
15 September 2012

Do you read newspapers online? Own a kindle? Download television programmes so you can skip the adverts? Free Ride explores the implications for modern culture of all these activities and asks how businesses can fight back against the expectation that everything we value should be available for free.

'Information wants to be free' says influential technologist Stewart Brand at a 1984 hacker convention. These words became the mantra that shaped the Internet, and the conflict he predicted has led to a revolution in the way that our culture is funded and consumed.

We have come to demand free content online, mistaking the packaging of physical products for what we were actually paying for- the creative content. Newspapers are being pressurised to give their content away for free online; music sales have plummeted due to piracy; and Amazon is using its market power to drive down the price of ebooks.

Technology companies are making millions from content created and funded by others, reducing the value of culture in the process. How did the media industry lose control over its destiny? What are the consequences? And are we headed for cultural meltdown if the media can't stop the free ride?

By: Robert Levine
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 232g
ISBN: 9780099549284
ISBN 10: 009954928X
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 15 September 2012
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General/trade , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert Levine was the executive editor of Billboard and has written for Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and the arts and business sections of the New York Times. Before that, he was a features editor at New York magazine and Wired. He holds a B.A. in politics from Brandeis and an M.S.J.from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He now covers the culture business from New York and Berlin. Free Ride is his first book.

Reviews for Free Ride: How the Internet is Destroying the Culture Business and How it Can Fight Back

Meticulously researched book...Levine's solutions are sensible...it's a vital discussion we need to be having -- Davin O'Dwyer * Irish Times * Levine is an engaging, provocative writer, and there is much to like about Free Ride...an entertaining read, with an entertaining cast * Observer * A book that should change the debate about the future of culture * New York Times Book Review * Brilliant... A crashcourse in the existential problems facing the media * The Times * Important -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times * Pugnacious and well-researched -- Steven Poole * Guardian * Comprehensive -- Pat Kane * Independent * Robert Levine tries to solve the tricky problem of internet copyright… This is an important debate, and this opinionated book is a welcome part of it -- William Leith * Scotsman *