A Frame of Mind
From That Business of Meaning by Peter Spear on substack:
I think this is one of the problems we haven't taken up. And that is, “How do you become as fluid as the world in which you live?” And some people take to that fluidity effortlessly. They just, they're good at creating a crowded house of possibilities. They are many people. They are good at shifting back and forth between those selfhoods.
I found myself curious the other day, wondering what had become of The Pirate Bay (TPB). It had been years since I last visited the website, and the last time I did, it was filled with so many porn-ish ads that I simply found it too stressful to bother with. Besides, my patience for such hassles has significantly waned, especially with the ease of on-demand streaming available through platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Xvideos. Then it dawned on me: Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, and the three creators of The Pirate Bay all hail from Sweden. Why then didn’t TPB founders join or invest in Spotify? While Spotify grew to become a $60 billion publicly listed company, the founders of TPB took a different path that got them arrested and imprisoned at some point. For the readers who may not be familiar with TPB, it is a website that allows people download all kinds of files (such as music, films, books, porn and more) for free using torrents. The founders believed in an open internet where information and knowledge could be shared freely without any real regard for corporations or intellectual property (IP) rights. Torrenting itself is not illegal, but downloading or sharing copyrighted material using torrents is, and although many won’t admit it, that’s what people use it for anyway. It is interesting to note that Daniel may have at some point being ideologically aligned with TPB founders due to his past role as the CEO of uTorrent, a software application that makes it possible to download torrents. It would be naive to think that he didn’t know that a bulk of the files downloaded were copyright protected materials. In fact, when Spotify first launched, it employed the same peer-to-peer technology as uTorrent. Moreover, according to certain accounts, some of the earliest songs on Spotify weren’t properly licensed. The question is, why was Spotify able to transition into a fully legitimate enterprise that compensates IP holders while TPB remained stuck as an underground operation? Even more disheartening is the acknowledgment made by Peter Sunde, one of The Pirate Bay’s founders, in a 2015 interview with Vice. He admitted that they had lost the battle for a more open or less centralised internet. 🤖
In the early 2000s, the music industry faced significant challenges, including declining sales, with piracy being a major culprit. During this time, Metallica and Dr. Dre notably clashed with Napster for enabling unauthorised sharing of their music. This dispute caused some reputational damage to Metallica. Given their rebellious image, some fans felt the band’s actions was out of sync with their brand, arguing that the band members were wealthy enough not to worry about copyright infringement. Even Lars Ulrich, the band’s drummer, once admitted in an interview that while he was financially secure for multiple lifetimes, the issue at hand was about maintaining control over their music. Having tinkered with computers for years, the debate around music piracy didn’t really concern me — I just wanted to listen to music, no matter how it was delivered. Back in the early to mid-2000s, the mere thought of paying for music would have made me laugh. Speaking about the generational divide, my father was still buying CDs at this time, while I was streaming music on Xsao.net. If you search Google for that website, it’s almost as if it never existed. They, along with other sites, were the precursors to Spotify. The hackers who built some of these websites weren’t motivated by money but by an ethos that demanded you make information and software free for all thereby promoting a culture of openness, sharing and collective improvement. When I mention hackers, I suspect the images that pop into your mind are those largely shaped by the media – Where someone rapidly types on a keyboard and then triumphantly declares, “I’m in.” Whenever I see those scenes, I can’t help but roll my eyes. Anyway, those who aim to destroy rather than build are actually called crackers. While it’s true that hackers can overlap with crackers, and vice versa, the defining factor is whether their skills are used positively or negatively. Eric Raymond put it perfectly when he wrote that “being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker anymore than being able to hot-wire cars make you an automative engineer.” 🧰
Let me illustrate with an example from popular culture: In the 1999 film, The Matrix, Neo begins his journey selling illegal software to dubious characters, essentially acting as a cracker. His transformation into a genuine hacker unfolds after he teams up with Morpheus and his crew. In essence, hacking isn’t confined to computers or technology; it’s an attitude. It’s driven by creativity and the thrill of exploring what’s possible—also known as “besides this, what else can this thing do?” It involves playful curiosity and a fearless disregard for unmerited or tyrannical authority. More like an enduring willingness to challenge the gatekeepers in any industry. If this sounds like you, then you have the hacker spirit and you should probably double down on it. A significant portion of the internet you now enjoy was built by people with that attitude who collaborated across borders, contributed to open-source projects, and digital platforms, all driven by a shared belief in making information accessible and pushing the boundaries of what technology can achieve. Last November, I tweeted, “The internet was born free, but now everywhere it’s in chains.” This was a nod to Rousseau’s memorable line, “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.” That tweet came from my frustration with how paywalls have taken over the internet—every turn it’s ‘pay to read this’ or ‘subscribe to access.’ Honestly, if I had to subscribe to every publication, newspaper, magazine, and website I wanted to read, I’d end up broke, maybe even living under a bridge. Every time I encounter paywalls, the first thing that comes to my mind is, ‘Why can’t all these publishers come together, bundle their content, and let me pay a monthly fee to access everything, just like Spotify?’ I can’t even imagine the amount of coordination it would take to get these publishers to agree. It’d be challenging, but not impossible. As time goes by, I’ve found myself increasingly sympathetic towards creators, convinced that they deserve fair compensation for their work. Perhaps it’s because I’m creating more myself these days, or maybe it’s my role as a freshly minted music executive, where I see the real value in intellectual property rights. 🎓
Moreover, running a film studio, record label, or media company is costly, and with so many shutting down daily, my respect for these industries has deepened. The issue now is that information on the web is becoming more expensive, and you can argue that it has always been that way but the digital age promised access like never before. Indeed, access has also broadened, but this comes with a catch: the quality has been dropping. The places where you can find quality information have installed gates around their premises, and for good reasons. However, I appreciate parts of the internet that are free—like my email service, this newsletter, Google search, etc.—because they offer invaluable resources and connections without a direct cost. Can the whole internet be free? Of course not — I personally don’t want that. Many creators are struggling and that aches my heart in ways I can’t explain. Spotify really nailed it by giving us all the music we could ever want for less, striking a perfect balance between access and fair compensation. I reckon Fmovies can do the same. I suspect that it probably has the largest movie library in the world bigger than all the streaming services combined. Yet, it has chosen to make money by porn ads and malware. I believe, though, that Fmovies could learn from Spotify’s strategy and find a better path. If played right, it could turn into a $100 billion company. Who knows, maybe it’s already there with its current monetisation model. I’m also grateful to those who’ve uploaded a ton of Spaghetti Western movies on YouTube—films I wouldn’t have known existed if not for the uploaders. Without their efforts, those films might have been damaged or lost forever in some attic. However, a part of me still wants the actors compensated even if it’s from the Youtube ad revenue that accrues to the uploader. Last year, when I bought FL Studio, I had to chuckle when I saw it charged me 15% extra for VAT. 🛍️
There was a time when I wouldn’t have even considered paying for it. Instead, I would’ve looked for a free-ish version. But I guess, even pirates eventually join the navy. My current position might be seen as privileged, considering many Africans can’t afford these products and often have to find alternative ways to get them. I suppose we have to find avenues to enable creators make a living while ensuring that knowledge and creativity remain open and accessible, particularly for those in economically disadvantaged regions. Yes, I will forever be aligned with the values of the hacker ethos — openness, sharing, rebellion, and innovation. However, there are various methods and approaches to realise the objectives of this ethos. If it’s any consolation, I guess you could say the pirates and the navy are meeting halfway these days. In a podcast conversation, that same Metallica drummer who used to be a hardcore “copyright enforcer” said, “I’m just fucking happy that anybody cares about what we’re doing and shows up to see us play and still stream or buy or steal our records or whatever.” It’s a pretty interesting perspective shift, and I guess I’ve been having a bit of a shift in my own views lately too. ⛑️
Thanks for reading. If there's anything you'd like to chat about, or if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you. :) 🍿