A reflection on Matt Mason’s chapter “The Tao of Pirates” in his book The Pirate’s Dilemma (2008)
“A pirate is essentially anyone who broadcasts or copies someone else’s creative property without paying for it or obtaining permission” (Mason 36). From Matt Mason’s definition, it is clear that modern piracy has to do with distribution of information rather than the pillaging of drunken ne’er do wells out at sea. Although, at one time, the disc jockeys behind pirate radio took to the sea for refuge of government and corporate control, the World Wide Web drives today’s media piracy.
Before reading Matt Mason’s chapter “The Tao of Pirates”, I had never really associated the ideas of web piracy today with the ideas behind pirate radio. Mason explains pirate radio as “the result of Europe’s failure to catch onto the potential of commercial radio” (41). A great deal of the European public caught onto this idea once their airwaves were taken over by rogue disk jockeys stationed on ships outside the control of the government. To better illustrate the 1960s’ phenomena, watch the following trailer for the 2009 film Pirate Radio.
Though the film may seem a bit sensationalized, I have the testimony from my father who grew up in Britain in the 1960s and who recalls the film’s accuracy. Though he was still young, he remembers gathering around his cousin’s radio, listening to pirate radio stations such as “Radio Caroline”, despite his parents’ disapproval. Pirate radio “revolutionized radio and European society, helping to bring rock ‘n’ roll, the top 40 charts, and the very idea of pop music to the people” (43). In reminiscing about the “good old days”, my father explains that all he really wanted from pirate radio was the rock ‘n’ roll, and that is exactly what he received.
At the time, I imagine that the musical artists being pirated did not have a problem with it. In fact, in Britain, pirate radio was one of the only ways their music would be played for the mass audiences. As Mason explains, “piracy is tolerated by the radio industry because pirate stations make our music better” (45). Pirate radio helped the distribution of revolutionary music to a generation of hip and innovative listeners.
However, it was not the artists that these radio pirates had to worry about offending. As Bill Nighy’s character says in the Pirate Radio trailer: “governments loathe people being free”. Whether the government did not like the idea of corrupting youth with rock ‘n’ roll music or whether they saw pirate radio as a threat to their ruling power, the government was four-square against this rebellion.
Today, pirate radio still exists, but instead of being a threat to the government, it is more so a counterargument to mass corporations distributing popular music. Instead of embracing the ideas behind “top 40” radio, these pirate radio stations also offer what a large majority of the people want: “new genres and scenes in faraway places… For some it’s a way to promote musical freedom of choice not offered by commercial, playlist-driven radio. For others it’s a way to promote freedom period” (45-46).
The big picture of media piracy has to do with freedom and innovation. With the interconnected Web being today’s highly acclaimed innovator in distribution of information and content, it seems only natural for media pirates to claim their domain online. This massive domain covers file sharing of everything from music to film to literature and more. Though some artists stand behind the benefits of piracy, others have expressed concern of their material being stolen. Mason shows this argument in his book when he writes: “pirates can add value to society, but in doing so take value from companies or individuals” (235).
It seems that, along with freedom and innovation, a great deal of piracy deals with a demand for value in the system. Not only does piracy demand quality from pirate entrepreneurs, it forces companies to produce content with a higher value. Pirates are “changing the way distribution works and forcing companies to be more competitive and innovative” (38). Competition leads to a higher quality and with piracy being carried out over the Web, more and more competition is forcing its way into the market.
According to Mason, “pirates create positive social and economic changes and understanding piracy today is more important than ever, because now that we can copy and broadcast whatever we want; we can all become pirates” (35). Mason seems to be saying that, with today’s technology, understanding piracy is the same as committing piracy. I do not necessarily agree with him on this one.
Though I agree that piracy has its benefits toward freedom, innovation and value, I do not consider myself an active pirate. My entire music and movie libraries have been legally obtained and paid for. My decision to be a consumer of “the real thing” has not been deliberately counteractive to the positive ideas behind piracy. I simply find that there is a sense of accomplishment associated with a genuine collection. Though I may not participate in a pirate’s distribution methods, I understand the implications of piracy and agree that, without the initiative pirates have taken toward change in the system, our ways of sharing media would be much more restrictive and narrow.
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