Name: Information Doesn't Want to Be Free
ISBN: 9781940450230

Information Doesn't Want to Be Free

Information Doesn't Want to Be Free takes on the state of copyright and creative success in the digital age. Can small artists still thrive in the Internet era? Can giant record labels avoid alienating their audiences? This is a book about the pitfalls and the opportunities that creative industries (and individuals) are confronting today -- about how the old models have failed or found new footing, and about what might soon replace them. Information Doesn't Want to Be Free offers a guide to the ways creativity and the Internet interact today, and to what might be coming next.

What Hacker News says

bondoloJul 2020

Based on the Spotify revenue model my favourite artist might make a few dollars off me over our entire lifetimes. This is not enough to sustain all but the biggest artists. I am happy to contribute more to smaller artists I appreciate. Seeing them on tour, buying CDs, buying merch, patreon type models and even straight up contributions on paypal and venmo. I've been buying a couple hundred bucks worth every bandcamp Friday since the start of covid. It is not just Spotify, none of the streaming fremium music subscription services provide me an effective way to support the artists I like.

Cory Doctorow points the way in Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free talking about future models for artists to make a living. It might superficially seem like the Spotify CEO is saying the same things but this is just cover for the gatekeepers to keep an unconscionable share for themselves.

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szczepanoSep 2019

What purpose exactly ? Only corporate products are good and other are trying to kill me ? That's your point ? McDonald sandwich will kill me or Apple iPhone ? Maybe facebook can kill me ? Qualcomm processor ?

Or maybe you think sole people doesn't build cars/planes and don't use them in public ?

Anyone can read about anything anywhere and yeah older people also talk about products they use and how good they are. They actually talk about it more than younger people.

I recommend you a great book by Cory Doctorow "Information doesn't want to be free" you can buy or download it.

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totalperspectivJun 2019

I recently finished "Information Doesn't want to be Free" and would highly recommend it as informed and well reasoned commentary on topics like this. Cory Doctrow puts into words the vague hand wavy feelings I have when we start talking about encryption, copyright, and freedom of speech on the internet.

The ebook is free (with suggested donation) on his website.

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FroyohSep 2017

Cody Doctorow's Information Doesn't Want to Be Free is a good read about this.

https://archive.org/details/InformationDoesntWantToBeFree

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azeirahJul 2016

For anybody interested in a comprehensive overview of copyright in the internet age, I can highly recommend the book "Information doesn't want to be free"

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dougmccuneApr 2015

I do a lot of 3D printed and laser cut art (see http://deviantcartography.com). Nearly everything I do can be easily physically reproduced with the right source files, or even with a bit of work you could replicate each piece from the source data. I find these implications fascinating. It's not all that different from the easy reproducibility of photos or digital prints, but it feels different now that that same reproducibility is moving into the realm of physical sculpture. My gut is that artists should figure out how to embrace reproducibility, but how that will play out with sculpture is unclear to me.

I highly recommend Cory Doctorow's quick read "Information Doesn't Want to be Free" and particularly his metaphor of the dandelion vs mammals for what I think is the right general direction for artists in an age of instant reproducibility.

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