For anyone who follows film, television, publishing and newspapers -- our culture industry -- Robert Levine, the former editor of Billboard and a New York Times alum, has written a must-read book.
In "Free Ride," Levine details how in less than two decades the Internet, dominated by technology companies like Google, has undermined the foundations of venerable institutions such as Warner Bros. and the New York Times.
Not only do movie studios and record labels have to reconsider their business models, but they also have to worry about their very existence.
There is no one-size-fits all solution, but Levine presents a variety of new business models and strategies to rescue these companies – from Hollywood’s UltraViolet to newspaper paywalls to online music streaming services like Spotify.
Levine argues that media companies and technology companies – currently fighting one another – must work together to make people pay for content, preserve artistic creation and help the Internet live up to its potential.
TheWrap spoke with Levine, who lives in Berlin, about why Google probably hates him, Hollywood greed and the knuckleheads over at The Guardian.
TheWrap: Let’s start with Google, since you devote an entire chapter to them. What’s so offensive about how the company operates?
Levine: It’s so omnipresent that people almost don’t realize its there. What’s really interesting is the extent to which our conversation about new media is shaped by Google from its funded think tanks to its human rights council. The extent to which they are everywhere in the debate is sort of spooky.
So should people view Google as evil?
A couple of people have said, what do I have against them? Maybe that’s my fault as a writer, but I don’t have anything against them. Google is a fantastically successful company that makes some great products. They spend a lot of money to lobby and are extraordinarily effective at doing that. I don’t think that’s evil, I think that’s business. But Google influences the world in less obvious ways and people should know more about it.
Also read: MPAA's Point-Man on Anti-Piracy Legislation Blames Google for Controversy
Has Google improved its stance on intellectual property at all since you wrote it?
Every few months Google will announce it’s improving its anti-piracy practices. I think it’s improving but it usually makes these announcements when it’s under pressure.
The have a lot of people whipped into frenzy about how SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] is the end of free speech online. There are a lot of very smart people who make smart points about why bills are flawed or bad, but a lot of those people are funded by Google and that’s kind of bullshit. If we want to have a serious, smart debate, Google is not helping that debate. They are standing in the way of that debate.
Populist sentiment seems to always side with the technology/telecommunications side of the argument.
