The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry's War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties

by Aram Sinnreich

In the decade and a half since Napster first emerged, forever changing the face of digital culture, the claim that “internet pirates killed the music industry” has become so ubiquitous that it is treated as common knowledge. Piracy is a scourge on legitimate businesses and hard-working artists, we are told, a “cybercrime” similar to identity fraud or even terrorism. In The Piracy Crusade, Aram Sinnreich critiques the notion of “piracy” as a myth perpetuated by today’s cultural cartels—the handful of companies that dominate the film, software, and especially music industries. As digital networks have permeated our social environment, they have offered vast numbers of people the opportunity to experiment with innovative cultural and entrepreneurial ideas predicated on the belief that information should be shared widely. This has left the media cartels, whose power has historically resided in their ability to restrict the flow of cultural information, with difficult adapt to this new environment, fight the changes tooth and nail, or accept obsolescence. Their decision to fight has resulted in ever stronger copyright laws and the aggressive pursuit of accused infringers.Yet the most dangerous legacy of this “piracy crusade” is not the damage inflicted on promising start-ups or on well-intentioned civilians caught in the crosshairs of file-sharing litigation. Far more troubling, Sinnreich argues, are the broader implications of copyright laws and global treaties that sacrifice free speech and privacy in the name of combating the phantom of piracy—policies that threaten to undermine the foundations of democratic society.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2013

About the author

Dr. Aram Sinnreich is a media professor, author, and musician. He currently serves as chair of Communication Studies at American University’s School of Communication.

Sinnreich’s work focuses on the collision of culture, law and technology, with an emphasis on subjects such as emerging media and music.

He is the author of five books, Mashed Up (2010), The Piracy Crusade (2013), The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property (2019), A Second Chance for Yesterday (2023; written with Rachel Hope Cleves as R.A. Sinn), and The Secret Life of Data (2024; written with Jesse Gilbert).

He has also written for publications including The New York Times, Billboard, Wired, The Daily Beast, and Rolling Stone. In prior incarnations, Sinnreich worked at Rutgers University, NYU Steinhardt, OMD Ignition Factory, Radar Research, and Jupiter Research.

As a musician, Sinnreich plays bass, percussion, and guitar. As a composer in styles such as jazz, reggae, and soul, he has been a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition (2014) and the Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Award (2020). His song "It's Never Easy, Si," performed with his group Dunia & Aram, reached #2 on the World Independent Music radio charts in 2023.

Reviews

[Aram Sinnreich]

I'm very happy with how this book came out.

[Harry]

A thought-provoking book by one of the most prescient cultural thinkers of the digital age. Sinnreich passionately explores the history of cultural expression and its evolution as a commodity in the modern era, unpacking the subtle ways business interests co-opt and then seek to control the flow of information -- especially in the music industry. This book is as timely as they come: ambitious in scope and relentlessly forward-looking, it explores not only the evolution of the music industry and the structures of political and commercial power, but also the moral implications of the human impulse to create and connect to others in this unprecedented era of digital communication.

[Nate Rabe]

Excellent expose of the “piracy panic” that the record companies have foisted on the public as a distraction from their own greed, laziness, bullyboy arrogance and incompetence.

[Martín]

The book presents a nice overview of the current situation regarding copyright infringement related to the music industry. It's an OK book if what you want is just a very broad analysis, although Sinnreich's postulate regarding the reality of the success of the music industry during the 90s (a "perfect bubble" followed by a "perfect storm") is not only novel but also very interesting. It could be supported by more data though.

In the end, if you are looking for a book with a more specific legal analysis of the issues involved regarding the push towards copyright maximalism by the content industries, I would suggest reading William Patry's books. But for a general audience, this book is more than enough.