Digital Renaissance

The internet . . . has given consumers around the world access to an unimaginable trove of music, movies, television shows and books, all at the touch of a button. But it sometimes seems as if the deluge is watering down popular culture. . . . Joel Waldfogel begs to disagree. In Digital Renaissance, he argues that we not only have more reading, viewing and listening material than ever before, but it's better. And he's got data to back that up. Boy does he have data. ---Amanda Gomez, Reuters Digital Renaissance should be consulted by any regulator or legislator being solicited by a forlorn media mogul looking to protect a traditional business from disruptive market forces. ---Jonathan A. Knee, New York Times DealBook The title of his compelling new book-Digital Renaissance-betrays his optimistic thesis, which he backs up with some creative data-sleuthing. . . . Waldfogel's book offers reassurance to those who fear that the new regime of ones and zeros is undermining cultural production. But his assessment will be far less comforting to denizens of the traditional cultural-industrial complex, not to mention the cultural pessimists bewailing its decline. . . . The big winners in this renaissance, aside from Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and similar platforms, appear to be the outsiders who couldn't get past the gatekeepers of old, and consumers of culture, who get much more for less. ---Daniel Akst, Strategy+Business