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SXSW Panel: An Open Internet - The Last, Best Hope for Independent Producers
Panelists: U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota
The gist:. Franken, who read from prepared remarks after expressing sympathy for the victims of Japan’s recent natural disasters and protesters in Libya, began by talking about the struggle artists (including Franken and his comedy partner Tom Davis) have always had making money and the history of South by Southwest. He explained that the Internet is a powerful medium for self promotion for artists, but that it’s in danger from companies that don’t want to leave money on the table (even big companies that might sponsor South by Southwest). Currently, we have net neutrality, he said, but are in danger of losing it as companies that control the pipelines want to begin charging for different kinds of content transmission (selectively throttling bandwidth). He cited examples including Comcast charging more for Netflix data transmission. Franken believes net neutrality would be bad for consumers, but disastrous for independent artists. Earning laughs, he said that large companies, who are the only ones who’d benefit from net neutrality restrictions, use a technique called “Making things up” to promote their cause. He cited examples like Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” and the music group The Decemberists as examples of artists finding their audience through direct distribution online.
Quotes: “Some of you may be aware that I used to be in comedy..” “The best part is no one has to sell out… unless they want to… but I am here to tell you that the party may be over.” “We have net neutrality right now and we don’t want to lose it. That’s all.” “I want artists to get paid for their work… for the work they want to do, not the work companies want them to do.” “You’re not just tech innovators, you’re job creators… you have enormous credibility right now.” “The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these enormous companies.” “I want this community to be engaged in this fight. Will you do it?” - all quote Franken.
Takeaways: The end of net neutrality would have a negative impact on pricing and options for consumers for their Internet entertainment, and it would be catastrophic for independent artists, musicians, filmmakers and tech developers who don’t want to sell out. Franken said he plans to introduce an anti-trust bill to take on telecom lobbyists directly; but he says he’s outnumbered and needs the support of artists, technologists and the public to fight for net neutrality. He asked SXSW attendees, whom he said have tremendous sway in this digital moment, to come out swinging to defend the current state of an open Internet.
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By Blueberry in the Tomato soup
March 14, 2011 3:16 PM | Link to this
Omar,
Where's the audio or video of Frankin?
Please post it for those who could not make it.
Cheers,
Jordan in Austin