Freeloading: how our insatiable appetite for free content starves creativity

INTERNET PIRACY- a battle that pits indies against corporations, free spirits against the money-grubbing Scrooge McDucks of the world. Right? Sort of. Sometimes. Maybe not. Internet piracy goes by many names - copyright infringement, file sharing, peer-to-peer lending - but in this lively narrative nonfiction account, author Chris Ruen argues that the practice of using unlicensed digital content should be called what it is- freeloading. In this comprehensive investigation, Ruen examines the near pervasive problem of internet piracy, and the moral and monetary dilemmas to which it gives rise. The phenomenon, which today affects almost everyone who taps a keyboard, is creating unlikely alliances - between artists and corporations, and between consumers and technology geeks in the hacker tradition - and it is changing how society views and values artistic production. Ruen, himself a former freeloader, came to understand how illegal downloads can threaten the artistic community after he spent time with successful Brooklyn bands who had yet to make a real profit from their music. Through original research and extensive interviews with musicians and artists, Freeloading dissects this battle. This provocative account is also a reminder of the truism that for every action there are consequences - a call to embrace practical, sensible solutions that protect artists and consumers alike.

About the Author :
Chris Ruen is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The NewYork Times, Slate's The Big Money, and New York Press. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004, where he co-founded and published The Wake, a student magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Review :
'Taking a rare and refreshingly unbiased look at the phenomenon of internet piracy, [Freeloading] is that rarest of discursive entities; a call for more conversation, both balanced and passionate ... it manages to present the pros and cons of all sides of the argument ... without the hyperbole that typically surrounds the subject.' '[The] fact that content can so easily be looted doesn't justify doing so ... If you value art you have to support those who make it.' 'A deeply moral and passionate book' 'A wonderful book that catches an encouraging shift in the zeitgeist. Ruen’s epiphany regarding the effects of his own piracy and freeloading of the bands he loves was eye opening.' 'The original slacker's dream of free everything may have been realized by the Internet—but along with it came the slacker's nightmare of never getting paid for one's creativity. Freeloading seeks—and to a large extent succeeds—to wrestle with the collapse of the commons and the possibilities for a renewed social contract.'