@PimVanDeWerken interviewt @MattMason (auteur "The Pirate's Dilemma") voor @IncubateTilburg

Incubate Festival komt er weer aan. Van 12 t/m 19 september staat heel Tilburg bomvol met onafhankelijke cultuur: muziek, film, beeldende kunst en debat. Het centrale thema van het festival is dit jaar Piraterij. Het thema is zichtbaar binnen veel optredens en projecten en wordt uitgebreid besproken tijdens de Incubate Pirate Conference op 17 september. Op het programma van deze dag staan o.a. Matt Mason (auteur van bestseller The Pirate’s Dilemma, neemt ook deel aan een panel met o.a. Creative Commons en Jiggy Djé), Hank Shocklee (producer van o.a. Public Enemy en Ice Cube, wordt geïnterviewd door Job de Wit), beeldend kunstenaar Rob Scholte en het Generation Bass Forum; over het uitwisselen en bewerken van muziek op globaal niveau en de rol van auteursrecht en de traditionele platenindustrie hierin. Kaarten voor de Pirate Conference zijn hier verkrijgbaar. Kosten? Pay What You Want!



Voorafgaand aan de conferentie stelde muzikant/producer Pim van de Werken (geen onbekende voor de lezers van dit blog) via mail enkele vragen aan Matt Mason:

Pim: Do you think piracy is a form of anarchy? Or is it some kind of civil disobedience? Is piracy a manifestation of individualism?
Mason: "Yes. It is all of the above and more. It's a crime in some contexts, and not a crime in others. It's a way to make money, it's theft, it's a way to get something when the government and market won't allow it to happen any other way. It's a very loaded term and it's used and misused in a lot of different ways. I've always thought of it as a fact of life in the world we live in, sometimes I agree with it, sometimes I don't, sometimes it's morally reprehensible, but most of the time, it's not, there are usually two sides. The main thing is it happens and it's hard to control if the piracy is meeting a need that society is not."

Do you mind if I take pieces from your book and publish it on my blog without attribution? Where does piracy stop and plagiarism start?
"Yes, I do mind. You can take the pieces, I don't mind that, but you have to acknowledge where they came from. That's just my person feeling about how I derive value from my work, but that is plagiarism as I understand it. That's exactly the point where piracy stops and plagiarism starts. If I make a copy of Avatar and start selling copies of Avatar by James Cameron without permission, that's piracy. If I called the copies Avatar by Matt Mason, I've plagiarized too. But were I to take Avatar and cut a new edit of it or mix it up with The Mighty Ducks part 2, then I've added a different take on two existing works, and would arguably deserve a credit on that new work alongside Cameron and whoever made The Mighty Ducks part 2."

What impact will the ACTA treaty have on piracy? If Internet Service Providers (ISP's) have to filter content, what will be the impact on piracy?
"The impact on piracy will be negligible but the impact on our ideas about free speech and privacy will be very negative. You don't win wars against piracy with new laws alone; you win them with market-based solutions. You win by finding a legal and beneficial way for society to permit that activity. But ACTA is happening whether we like it or not. No one who should be listening to these ideas is listening."
What is the best way for the music industry to compete with piracy?
"They're doing it. They're coming up with new business models; they're figuring it out for the most part. People think of that phrase and think of the RIAA or whoever, but there's so many cool start-ups doing good stuff and building new business models. There's even a lot of people at the majors thinking this way. There's also a lot of lawyers and lobbyists and people who don't care about all this digital crap and just want to retire in three years without having to think about it, but it's in a better place than it was a few years ago. Reality is slowly sinking in."

If you were in charge, what would you change in copyright law?
"I would allow things to enter the public domain after a shorter period of time. I would expand fair use to cover all kinds of remixes and derivative works. I'd do what I could to try and help all kinds of creators make money and protect their works without stopping others from adding value to their work. I guess I'd do what I could to enshrine the realities of the digital age in law in way that was beneficial to all of us. Either that or just take bribes from lobbyists, retire and finish my remix of Avatar/The Mighty Ducks part 2."

Hier een uitgebreid artikel over piraterij in NRC van deze week. Een digitale versie van The Pirate’s Dilemma haal je op de site van Matt Mason. Kosten? Pay What You Want natuurlijk. Vind je een fysieke versie toch fijner lezen? EHPO geeft 2 exemplaren weg. Laat een reactie achter in de comments.

Naast de Pirate Conference heeft Incubate ook nog een overvol programma met o.a. NEU!, Dan Deacon, Black Mountain, Neon Indian, Serena-Maneesh, Women, Zola Jesus en Damien Jurado. Luister naar de Spotify playlist van het festival. Binnen het filmprogramma van Incubate zijn enkele mockbusters van The Asylum te zien; goedkope piratenversies van grote Hollywood films (denk Snakes on a Train, Da Vinci Treasure etc.). Hieronder een interview dat Incubate deed met The Asylum over hun producties, businessmodel en piraterij, dat mooi aansluit bij Mason’s remix van Avatar met Mighty Ducks 2: