Peer to Peer and the Music Industry
The Criminalization of Sharing
- Matthew David - Durham University, UK
This penetrating and informative book provides readers with the perfect systematic critical guide to the file-sharing phenomenon. Combining inter-disciplinary resources from sociology, history, media and communication studies and cultural studies, 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 into a fascinating enquiry into:
- the rise of file-sharing
- the challenge to intellectual property law posed by new technologies of communication
- the social psychology of cyber crime
- the response of the mass media and multi-national corporations.
Matthew David concludes with a balanced, eye-opening assessment of alternative cultural modes of participation and their relationship to cultural capitalism.
This is a landmark work in the sociology of popular culture and cultural criminology. 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.
Good opinions and very useful
An extremely enlightening and thorough analysis of the contemporary music industry within the digital age. Matthew David explores the rise of file sharing and its cultural, social and economic impact within the industry, and offers alternative mechanisms to these issues. Essential reading for music students wishing to work within the turbulent music business.
An interestring insight into some of the current arguments and debates concerning file sharing and the music industry. David has a real sense of how to focus and clearly explain some of the problematic areas of file sharing and its cultural, sociological. economic and philosophical impact. A must read for academics, students and industry practitioners.
A very interesting and timely book, but too specialised to be essential reading for my course
The book is very well written, topics are essential and the book is best one adressing these questions.
This is an excellent study of file-sharing. The book incorporates a detailed analysis of a wide range of issues that will give students a thorough understanding of the complexities, power and politics involved in the regulation of popular music.
