Description

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

A call to action for the creative class and labour movement to rally against the power of Big Tech and Big Media.

Corporate concentration has breached the stratosphere, as have corporate profits. An ever-expanding constellation of industries are now monopolies (where sellers have excessive power over buyers) or monopsonies (where buyers hold the whip hand over sellers) – or both.

Scholar Rebecca Giblin and writer and activist Cory Doctorow argue we’re in a new era of ‘chokepoint capitalism’, with exploitative businesses creating insurmountable barriers to competition that enable them to capture value that should rightfully go to others. All workers are weakened by this, but the problem is especially well illustrated by the plight of creative workers. From Amazon’s use of digital rights management and bundling to radically change the economics of book publishing, to Google and Facebook’s siphoning away of ad revenues from news media, and the Big Three record labels’ use of inordinately long contracts to up their own margins at the cost of artists, chokepoints are everywhere.

By analysing book publishing and news, live music and music streaming, screenwriting, radio, and more, Giblin and Doctorow deftly show how powerful corporations construct ‘anti-competitive flywheels’ designed to lock in users and suppliers, make their markets hostile to new entrants, and then force workers and suppliers to accept unfairly low prices.

Chokepoint Capitalism is a call to workers of all sectors to unite to help smash these chokepoints and take back the power and profit that’s being heisted away – before it’s too late.

Publisher Review

'Chokepoint Capitalism tells us how the vampires crashed the party, and provides protective garlic.' -- Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale 'We all know something is wrong about every click, stream, and purchase we make - unfairly depriving value creators of their worth, while enriching the wealthiest and most extractive entities in human history. Instead of just complaining about the corporate stranglehold over production and exchange, Giblin and Doctorow show us why this happened, how it works, and what we can do about it. An infuriating yet inspiring call to collective action.' -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus and Survival of the Richest 'An urgent, profound, and approachable take on what it's going to take to save our culture. If you care about books, movies, or music, read this book right now. And share a copy with a friend.' -- Seth Godin, author of The Practice 'Chokepoint Capitalism is not just a fascinating tour of the hidden mechanics of the platform era, from Spotify playlists to Prince's name change, but a compelling agenda to break Big Tech's hold. It presents a clear new way to think about corporate power - and a path to taking that power back for cultural creators and all of us.' -- Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble and cofounder of Avaaz 'The great myth of the American economy is that it rewards creators and producers. But Chokepoint Capitalism dares to tell the real story of how it actually rewards the all-powerful middlemen fleecing both workers and consumers. This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who senses that the predominant economic mythology is a lie, who wants to know what's really happening in this economy - and who is ready to finally start fixing the problem.' -- David Sirota, writer of Don't Look Up and founder of The Lever '[A] lucid and damning expose of how big business captured the culture markets ... Interwoven with maddening tales of exploitation are detailed discussions of statutory licensing reform, copyright infringement detection systems, and other technical matters ... The book's broad scope, expert policy recommendations, and flashes of wit make it a must-read for anyone involved in these industries.' -- Publishers Weekly, starred review Giblin and Doctorow persuasively argue that copyright can't unrig a rigged market - for that you need worker power, antitrust, and solidarity.' -- Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia 'I loved this book ... It helps us all see the locks and chains, and the ways to chisel through them.' -- Zephyr Teachout, law professor and author of Corruption in America and Break 'Em Up 'Creators are being ground up by the modern culture industries, with little choice but to participate in markets ... Giblin and Doctorow show why, and offer a range of powerful strategies for fighting back.' -- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School 'Capitalism doesn't work without competition. Giblin and Doctorow impressively show the extent to which that's been lost throughout the creative industries, and how this pattern threatens every other worker.' -- Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist 'A tome for the times ... The revolution will not be spotified!' -- Christopher Coe, artist and cofounder of Awesome Soundwave 'Chokepoint Capitalism couples its legal-economic critique with provocative, sometimes utopian, prescriptions for fairly remunerating authors and performers.' -- Jane C. Ginsburg, Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law at Columbia University School of Law 'Searing, essential, and incredibly readable.' -- Adam Conover, comedian and host of The G-Word 'If you have ever wondered why the web feels increasingly stale, Chokepoint Capitalism outlines in great detail how it is being denied fresh air.' -- Mat Dryhurst, artist and researcher at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music 'Chokepoint Capitalism is more than a clarion call for a new, necessary form of trustbusting. It's a grand unified theory of a decades-long, corporate-led hollowing out of creative culture.' -- Andy Greenberg, writer for WIRED and author of Sandworm and Tracers in the Dark 'Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow lay out their case in plain and powerful prose, offering a grand tour of the blighted cultural landscape and how our arts and artists have been chickenised, choked, and cheated.' -- Kaiser Kuo, host and cofounder of The Sinica Podcast 'A masterwork ... It's a necessary read for any artist in the entertainment industry.' -- David A. Goodman, writer, executive producer of The Orville, and former president of the WGA West 'Every creator will find inspiration here.' -- Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch Praise for Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: 'Doctorow breaks down the complex issues and tangled arguments surrounding technology, commerce, copyright, intellectual property, crowd funding, privacy and value - not to mention the tricky situation of becoming "Internet Famous." ... Doctorow has spoken and written on these issues many times before but never quite so persuasively. Required reading for creators making their ways through the new world.' -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review Praise for Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom: 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is black-comedic sci-fi prophecy on the dangers of surrendering our consensual hallucination to the regime. Fun to read, but difficult to sleep afterwards.' -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus and Survival of the Richest Praise for Code Wars: 'With a combination of acute observation, close analysis and clear-headed honesty, Rebecca Giblin leads the reader to share her conclusion that there is no legislative, judicial, commercial or technical panacea for copyright infringement which P2P software facilitates, but that even now it is not too late to improve the manner in which the rights-owning and distribution sectors address the challenges that P2P poses.' -- Jeremy Phillips, Olswang, and Intellectual Property Institute