THE PIRATE'S DILEMMA
How Youth Culture
Is Reinventing Capitalism
MATT MASON
FREE PRESS
New York London Toronto Sydney
ƒTHE PIRATE'S DILEMMA
How Youth Culture
Is Reinventing Capitalism
MATT MASON
FREE PRESS
New York London Toronto Sydney
ƒ
free press
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 2008 by Matt Mason
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address
Free Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, NY 10020.
free press and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Kyoko Watanabe
Illustration by Ji Lee
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007023530
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5401-1
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5401-7
For Emily CONTENTS
INTRO: Enter the Lollipop 1
1. Punk Capitalism 9
From D.I.Y. to Downloading Sneakers
2. The Tao of Pirates 33
Sea Forts, Patent Trolls, and Why We Need Piracy
3. We Invented the Remix 68
Cut-'n'-Paste Culture Creates Some New Common Ground
4. The Art of War 103
Street Art, Branding, and the Battle for Public Space
5. Boundaries 134
Disco Nuns, the Death of the Record Industry, and Our
Open-Source Future
6. Real Talk 172
How Hip-Hop Makes Billions and Could Bring About
World Peace
7. Ethernomics 202
Pillow Fights, Happy Slaps, and Other Memes That
Leave a Mark
OUTRO: The Pirate's Dilemma: Changing the Game Theory 231
Acknowledgments 241
Notes 245
Index 269
You are now about to witness the
strength of street knowledge.
-Dr. Dre, 1988
THE PIRATE'S DILEMMA INTRO
Enter the Lollipop
"Meter Pop" street installation by Mark Jenkins-
Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C., January 15, 2006
© Mark Jenkins
Imagine you're in your car, rolling down Independence Avenue in
Washington, D.C. It's a cold, crisp January morning. You flick on the
radio and rotate through the FM crackle until a song you like hacks its
way through the static. You twist the tuner until you're locked in and
the track floats from the speakers in clear stereo, filling the vehicle.
But not for long. Moments later, at the light, an SUV lurches to a
stop beside you, blasting bass-heavy hip-hop beats. Your music
instantly splinters as the low-end frequencies of the superior neighbor-
ing system rattle your windows. You glare at the guy reclining in the
driver's seat, but his cap is pulled too low over his face to catch his eye,
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and the sunlight is catching on the expensive-looking watch on his left
arm, stretched across the steering wheel. As the bass reverberates
through the traffic, he nods in time with a stuttering snare drum. Grav-
elly lyrics make their way out into the winter air.
This guy, it strikes you, could be hip-hop's modern-day poster child.
He exudes swagger, confidence, and aspiration. The penchant for
heavyweight cars and luxury jewelry is obvious, yet the sound track
suggests a deep-seated connection to the street and the perceived re-
alities of poverty. He looks like an extra from a P. Diddy video, but he
could be a college student, crack dealer, or quantum physicist. There is
no way of telling.
He could be from any number of social or ethnic backgrounds. This