Filmmaker Alex Stapleton and writer Stephen Witt discuss their new documentary about the file-sharing era, 'How Music Got Free.'
knows about the rise of the Mp3 and the end of the CD gold rush is a good one. It’s got Metallica and Dr. Dre, Sean Parker and the, Kazaa, Limewire, and the record industry’s flabbergasting decision to sue its own fans. But the real story, or arguably the most nuanced and fascinating one, lies elsewhere with a bunch of young computer wizzes scattered across the country and a handful of crafty, underpaid factory workers in Shelby, North Carolina.
“The concentration of the means of production of the CD factory plants and the expense of distributing stuff in stores created a class of gatekeepers,” Witt says. “I don’t think, in aggregate, they were good for creative arts. It was bad, in aggregate for society, that in 2005 and 2006, the recording industry revenues collapsed by 50 or 60 percent — but it did kind of get rid of a lot of these gatekeeper types.
How did you get people like Dell Glover, these factory workers, and the pirates to speak on the record about this stuff? Was it difficult, or were people willing to discuss it after all these years?: The roadmap was started by all the research and writing that Stephen did. Obviously, Dell was central to that. Tony Dockery is another big character in the book. But I could never get Tony to come to the table.
I thought the movie made an interesting distinction between the piracy itself and leaking albums early, which is what really seemed to rattle artists more than anything. I got the sense that no one in the industry really suspected the leaks were happening at the plant level. Like, everyone thought it was the engineers or something. Was it really not until the FBI got involved that they started tracing this back to the factory?: They were so clueless, and you’d think they would know. I mean, I interviewed the plant security guard. He didn’t know! It was aAnother thing is, at a certain point, Universal sold the plant.
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