MUSE MAGAZINE
THE PRICE OF “FREE”
by Julian Fraser
The popularity of the Digital Revolution has changed how we as consumers interact with media and culture. While it has provided the opportunity to connect and share content between users, it presents complications in its difficulty to limit the same access it affords. Internet piracy truly began to pervade consumer culture through the inception of Napster-Era mp3 sharing in 1999. It posed a radically disruptive market force to multiple industries. If you provided a good or service that was accessible digitally, you were vulnerable. 36
No sense of brand loyalty or savings competes against pro gratis. Revenue streams tightened as physical media formats declined, and products essentially became free thanks to peer-to-peer services like LimeWire and Torrent websites. Any person with a basic understanding of computers could download and access software, music, or films under the relatively anonymous veil of the internet at no cost. This revolution occurred in the backdrop of a gravely inadequate and uninformed response by public policy makers, hopelessly watching
the evolution and emergence of new technologies, which rapidly outpaced their ability to enforce, legislate, and contain them. The film industry scrambled to roll out counter measures in the form of inescapable Public Service Announcements tied to DVDs, likening the abominable act of downloading movies to that of car theft—see YouTube video “You Wouldn’t Steal A Car.” A plethora of severely out of touch and cringe-inducing propaganda campaigns followed, including hip slogans such as ‘Don’t Copy That
