The Pirate’s Dilemma Revisited
and author Matt Mason's provocative ideas have been making the rounds for more than a year. But in the wake of the Pirate Bay trial, he's been getting a new round of well deserved attention.
"Neither side is right and no one wins." At the recent Think Digital conference in the UK, Mason to the audience that companies must learn from pirates to survive in the 21st Century. "We have 19th Century intellectual property laws and 20th Century business models in the complexity of the 21st Century." Citing examples from gaming to pharmaceuticals, he reminded the crowd that, "On one side, you have anarchic teenagers saying the system is broke.
Let's blow up copyright, and then the lawyers are on the other side.
Neither side is right and no one wins." Wherever you stand on this debate, "if suing your fans is the core of your business model, then you no longer have a business model unless you are a lawyer," states the author.
The answer, according to Mason, is to learn from the pirate. "Entrepreneurs look for gaps in the market. Pirates looks for gaps outside of the market. " Many companies need to rethink exactly that they are selling. Why buy music from the iTunes when it can be download it free? iTunes is selling trust and convenience, Mason told The Guardian and for many consumers that trumps the wild, wild west of BitTorrent.
Mason produced several short videos to help illustrate the point:
The Pirate's Dilemma Act 1: The Remix
The Pirate's Dilemma Act 2: Pill Pirates
I'll publish the remaining two videos and a list of Pirate's Dilemma articles and resources tomorrow.
