Matthew David TC TC Peer to Peer and the Music Industry S S Have the music and movie industries lost the battle to Industry Music the and Peer to Peer criminalize downloading? Theory, Culture & Society Theory, This penetrating and informative book provides readers with a systematic guide to the file-sharing phenomenon. Critically combining inter-disciplinary resources Matthew David unpacks the economics, psychology and philosophy of file-sharing. The book carefully situates the reader in a field of relevant approaches including network society theory, post-structuralism and ethnographic research. It uses this to launch a fascinating enquiry into: • the rise of file-sharing, • the challenge to intellectual property law posed by new technologies, • the social psychology of cyber crime and • the response of the mass media and multi-national corporations. This is a landmark work in the sociology of popular culture and cultural criminology, it concludes with a balanced, eye-opening assessment of alternative cultural modes of participation and their relationship to cultural capitalism. It fuses a deep knowledge of the music industry and the new technologies of mass communication with a powerful perspective on how multinational corporations seek to monopolize markets, how international and state agencies defend property, while a global multitude undermine and/or reinvent both. It will be of interest to students of sociology, criminology, media and communications and cultural studies. ‘Matthew David has done a rare and valuable thing with this work. He has comprehensively exposed the inherent radicalism of peer-to-peer communication and exposed the absurdities of the various efforts to quash the practice and technologies. This book is certain to outlast the recording industry.’ Siva Vaidhyanathan, Media Studies, University of Virginia ‘This book is far-reaching in its implications for our understanding of modern society and culture and should be read by anyone with an interest in the future of music... the analysis is scholarly and rigorous yet the book is accessibly written and contains moments of real humour.’ Graeme Kirkpatrick, Sociology, University of Manchester ‘Too often the music industry is seen as merely being about entertainment. In this closely and Peer to Peer and clearly argued book Matthew David explains in detail why anyone interested in the future of our global information society must understand the questions raised by this industry’s relationship with its customer base… he offers a clear and informative analysis of these developments that the Music Industry will be of interest to social scientists, lawyers and music lovers alike.’ David Christopher May, Political Economy, Lancaster University The Criminalization of Sharing Matthew David is a lecturer in the Sociology of Culture at Brunel University. ISBN: 978-1-84787-005-6 Cover image © Nick Brown 9 781847 870056 david_peer_aw.indd 1 12/11/09 17:32:07 David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page i Peer to Peer and the Music Industry This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page ii Theory, Culture & Society Theory, Culture & Society caters for the resurgence of interest in culture within con- temporary social science and the humanities. Building on the heritage of classical social theory, the book series examines ways in which this tradition has been reshaped by a new generation of theorists. It also publishes theoretically informed analyses of everyday life, popular culture, and new intellectual movements. EDITOR: Mike Featherstone, Nottingham Trent University SERIES EDITORIAL BOARD Roy Boyne, University of Durham Nicholas Gane, University of York Scott Lash, Goldsmiths College, University of London Roland Robertson, University of Aberdeen Couze Venn, Nottingham Trent University THE TCS CENTRE The Theory, Culture & Society book series, the journals Theory, Culture & Society and Body & Society, and related conference, seminar and postgraduate programmes operate from the TCS Centre at Nottingham Trent University. For further details of the TCS Centre's activities please contact: The TCS Centre, Room 175 Faculty of Humanities Nottingham Trent University Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK e-mail: [email protected] web: http://sagepub.net/tcs/ Recent volumes include: Ordinary People and the Media The Demotic Turn Graeme Turner The Sociology of Intellectual Life The Career of the Mind in and around the Academy Steve Fuller Globalization & Football Richard Guilianotti and Roland Robertson The Saturated Society Governing Risk and Lifestyles in Consumer Culture Pekka Sulkunen This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page iii Peer to Peer and the Music Industry The Criminalization of Sharing Matthew David This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page iv © Matthew David 2010 First published 2010 Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society, Nottingham Trent University Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, Post Bag 7 New Delhi 110 044 SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 33 Pekin Street #02–01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009925264 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-84787-005-6 Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India Printed by MPG Books Group, Bodmin, Cornwall Printed on paper from sustainable resources This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page v For Mike Presdee (1944-2009). A great teacher, friend and sharer. This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page vi Matthew David has done a rare and valuable thing with this work. He has comprehensively exposed the inherent radicalism of peer-to-peer com- munication and exposed the absurdities of the various efforts to quash the practice and technologies.This book is certain to outlast the recording industry. Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia This book is far-reaching in its implications for our understanding of modern society and culture and should be read by anyone with an interest in the future of music. David’s discussion of the music industry’s response to digitisation and the culture of downloading and file-sharing dispels the myths about pirates stealing our musical heritage. It puts the spotlight firmly on an industry that has exploited artists and audiences alike for years but which now finds itself imperilled by a mixture of technological change and the creative practices of (mainly) young people. The analysis is scholarly and rigorous yet the book is accessibly written and contains moments of real humour. Graeme Kirkpatrick, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, University of Manchester Too often the music industry is seen as merely being about entertainment. In this closely and clearly argued book Matthew David explains in detail why anyone interested in the future of our global information society must understand the questions raised by this industry's relationship with its customer base. Clearly establishing the importance of understanding the production and distribution of music for the wider realms of the globalising information economy, Matthew David develops an analysis of much wider relevance. The challenge of openness that confronts the major record companies is repeated across the information economy, and the struggle for control of the distribution of content will be the economic issue of the new millennium; Matthew David offers a clear and informative analysis of these developments that will be of interest to social scientists, lawyers and music lovers alike. Christopher May, Professor of Political Economy, Lancaster University This SAGE ebook is copyright and is supplied by NetLibrary. Unauthorised distribution forbidden. David-3921-Prelims:Pieterse Prelims.qxp 25/09/2009 5:22 PM Page vii Contents List of Figures and Tables xi Key Acronyms and Abbreviations xii 1 Introduction 1 Much too much? 1 The file-sharing phenomenon 2 The structure of this book 3 The claim being made 9 2 The Global Network Society: Territorialisation and Deterritorialisation 10 Introduction 10 The relative autonomy of the informational mode of development? 11 Critical theoretical challenges 12 Feminist critiques 16 Informationalism and ‘capitalist perestroika’?