Freeloading: How Our Insatiable Appetite for Free Content Starves Creativity In his new book, author Chris Ruen provides a glimpse into his personal transition from consumer of free media to advocate for artists’ rights and a more rational conversation about copyright in the digital age.  Ruen shares his own thoughts about common justifications for online piracy, about the mechanics behind ...

There are a lot theories and a lot of experimentation with regard to independent filmmaking, the digital age, and the prospects for redefining the ways in which filmed entertainment can be funded by sponsors and distributed over the web.  I thought it would be interesting to talk to Amy French, an old friend who is a writer, filmmaker, and actress ...

Beneath the roil of arguments about illegal downloading of digital media, there is an unmistakable social, dare I say ethical, implication to the idea that the next generation is growing up believing that it is normal to enjoy entertainment media without paying for it.  Perhaps the most counter-intuitive phenomenon is the fact that college students currently paying a premium to ...

While it’s true that affordable digital cameras and editing software have put impressive means of production into the hands any boot-strapping filmmaker with a dream, digital filmmaking at the highest end of TV and motion pictures is actually more complex and more expensive than the days of celluloid-only production.  As part of my focus on digital cinema, I interviewed cinematographer ...

Changing the culture one fan at a time Matthew Ebel would seem to be the living definition of the DIY digital artist.  With 10 albums full of satirical and thought-provoking songs, he writes, composes, and performs based out of his New Hampshire studio, where he also records a weekly live stream program attended by fans from around the U.S. and ...

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