{"product_id":"chokepoint-capitalism-isbn-9780807012659","title":"Chokepoint Capitalism","description":"\u003cb\u003eA call to action for the creative class and labor movement to rally against the power of Big Tech and Big Media\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCorporate 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e, 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 \u003ci\u003eeverywhere\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy analyzing 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the book’s second half, Giblin and Doctorow then explain how to batter through those chokepoints, with tools ranging from transparency rights to collective action and ownership, radical interoperability, contract terminations, job guarantees, and minimum wages for creative work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cb\u003ePART 1: CULTURE HAS BEEN CAPTURED\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003eBig Business Captured Culture\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 2\u003cbr\u003eHow Amazon Took Over Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 3\u003cbr\u003eHow News Got Broken\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 4\u003cbr\u003eWhy Prince Changed His Name\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 5\u003cbr\u003eWhy Streaming Doesn’t Pay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 6\u003cbr\u003eWhy Spotify Wants You to Rely on Playlists\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 7\u003cbr\u003e What the US Shares with Rwanda, Iran, and North Korea\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 8\u003cbr\u003eHow Live Nation Chickenized Live Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 9\u003cbr\u003e Why Seven Thousand Hollywood Writers Fired Their Agents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 10\u003cbr\u003eWhy \u003ci\u003eFortnite\u003c\/i\u003e Sued Apple\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 11\u003cbr\u003eYouTube: Baking Chokepoints In\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART 2: BRAKING ANTICOMPETITIVE FLYWHEELS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 12\u003cbr\u003eIdeas Lying Around\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 13\u003cbr\u003eTransparency Rights\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 14\u003cbr\u003eCollective Action\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 15\u003cbr\u003eTime Limits on Copyright Contracts\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 16\u003cbr\u003eRadical Interoperability\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 17\u003cbr\u003eMinimum Wages for Creative Work\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 18\u003cbr\u003eCollective Ownership\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 19\u003cbr\u003eUniting Against Chokepoint Capitalism\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e“[Giblin and Doctorow] deliver a lucid and damning exposé of how big business captured the culture markets.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Giblin and Doctorow make a convincing case that taking on Big Tech and Big Content—seemingly a lonely and demoralizing endeavor—is, in fact, an opportunity for community.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Provocative . . . What makes this book so refreshing is that it never lets its reader off the hook. The authors remind us, repeatedly, that our ignorance is being weaponised against us. If we don’t understand how big business established its chokehold over us, how will we ever be able to wriggle free of its grip?”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Nerdy, sharp, radical and readable.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Financial Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A searing and comprehensive take on the oligopolies that control creative markets, from publishing to music distribution to film distribution.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eAlta\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e is the book we need now. Comprehensive and accessible, stirring and enlightening, it is a roadmap for taking immediate action against the corporate chokepoints that are crushing our creative workers and, increasingly, the rest of the middle class as well.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Progressive\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e is a wake-up call. The emphasis it places on the need for a collective response to chokepoint capitalism gives the book its radical edge.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Conversation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Totally readable.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Spinoff\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who senses that the predominant economic mythology is a lie . . . and who is ready to finally start fixing the problem.”\u003cbr\u003e—David Sirota, writer of \u003ci\u003eDon’t Look Up\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e tells us how the vampires crashed the party and provides protective garlic.”\u003cbr\u003e—Margaret Atwood, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Handmaid’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Searing, essential, and incredibly readable.”\u003cbr\u003e—Adam Conover, comedian and host of \u003ci\u003eThe G-Word\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Seth Godin, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Practice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e is a Why We Fight for a long-overdue uprising.”\u003cbr\u003e—Kaiser Kuo, host and cofounder of \u003ci\u003eThe Sinica Podcast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Giblin and Doctorow persuasively argue that copyright can’t unrig a rigged market—for that, you need worker power, antitrust, and solidarity.”\u003cbr\u003e—Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I loved this book. . . . It helps us all see the locks and chains and the ways to chisel through them.”\u003cbr\u003e—Zephyr Teachout, author of \u003ci\u003eBreak ’Em Up\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Brilliant and wide-ranging.”\u003cbr\u003e—Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Every creator will find inspiration here.”\u003cbr\u003e—Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A tome for the times . . . The revolution will not be spotified!”\u003cbr\u003e—Christopher Coe, artist and cofounder of Awesome Soundwave\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e couples its legal-economic critique with provocative, sometimes utopian, prescriptions for fairly remunerating authors and performers.”\u003cbr\u003e—Jane C. Ginsburg, Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, Columbia University School of Law\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you have ever wondered why the web feels increasingly stale, \u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e outlines in great detail how it is being denied fresh air.”\u003cbr\u003e—Mat Dryhurst, artist and researcher, NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e 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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Andy Greenberg, writer for \u003ci\u003eWIRED\u003c\/i\u003e and author of \u003ci\u003eSandworm\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTracers in the Dark\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Eli Pariser, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Filter Bubble\u003c\/i\u003e and cofounder of Avaaz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A masterwork . . . It’s a necessary read for any artist in the entertainment industry.”\u003cbr\u003e—David A. Goodman, writer, executive producer of \u003ci\u003eThe Orville\u003c\/i\u003e, and former president of the WGA West\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An infuriating yet inspiring call to collective action.”\u003cbr\u003e—Douglas Rushkoff, author of \u003ci\u003eThrowing Rocks at the Google Bus\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSurvival of the Richest\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRebecca Giblin\u003c\/b\u003e (she\/her) is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor at Melbourne Law School, where she leads interdisciplinary teams researching issues around creators’ rights, access to knowledge, and the regulation of technology and culture. She is Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA) and heads up the Author’s Interest and eLending projects (authorsinterest.org; \u003cu\u003eelendingproject.org\u003c\/u\u003e), as well as Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project (untapped.org.au). \u003ci\u003eChokepoint Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e is her latest book. She also wrote \u003ci\u003eCode War\u003c\/i\u003es and co-edited \u003ci\u003eWhat if we could reimagine copyright?\u003c\/i\u003e. Follow her on Twitter (@rgibli).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCory Doctorow\u003c\/b\u003e is a bestselling science fiction writer and activist. He is a special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, with whom he has worked for 20 years. He is also a visiting professor of computer science at the Open University (UK) and of library science  at the University of North Carolina. He is also a MIT Media Lab research  affiliate. He co-founded the UK Open Rights Group and co-owns the  website Boing Boing. He is the author of more than 20 books, including  novels for adults and young adults, graphic novels for middle-grade  readers, picture books, nonfiction books on technology and politics, and  collections of essays. Follow him on Twitter (@doctorow).","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304668713189,"sku":"NP9780807012659","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807012659.jpg?v=1767723681","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/chokepoint-capitalism-isbn-9780807012659","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}