chrisbrogan.com» mattmason

Why Pirates are Necessary

ceb — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:00:31 +0000

Superstar pirate chronicler Matt Mason has released a video bit to go with his nifty book. Check it out here.

If you’ve yet to read it, I strongly recommend picking up The Pirate’s Dilemma. Thank goodness for Whitney Hoffman, else I wouldn’t have read this book. She’s a great book recommender.

Free Pirates Dilemma Book

ceb — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:20:17 +0000

Matt Mason, author of The Pirate’s Dilemma has worked it out with his publisher to release his book as a free download. There’s an option to pay him a few bucks (one of those from $0.00 to $3,999,410 kind of things). So, it’s up to you how you want to participate. I highly recommend the book. I got hooked on Matt thanks to Whitney Hoffman. Download your copy of his free book here.

Amazing Animated Street Art

ceb — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:37:19 +0000

Found this via Matt Mason’s Pirate’s Dilemma blog. This is street art by Blu. It’s incredible. Think about all that went into making this happen. Something for your right brain today:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

The Pirates Dilemma

ceb — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:54:17 +0000

When punk music and the social scene around it came around, music was deeply entrenched in the record industry’s current offering: disco. Punk showed up with far more attitude than aptitude and proceeded to take a big fat gouge out of the profits and expectations of the larger record/music industry, and people responded. People suddenly realized a music and an ethos where they could participate. Instead of fancy clothes or impossible musical setups, people could do punk with a very limited toolset, and they could make it their own. Very do-it-yourself.

Pirate radio had some similar beginnings (more prevalent in the UK, but remember, my friend Jeff Pulver occasionally admits to knowing about a “really great” radio station in New York), insofar as that it became music programmed by the people for the people.

This book by Matt Mason, The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism, is a great exploration of how people like the guys behind FUBU and Marc Ecko turned hip hop culture and street graffiti into a business while maintaining an ethical focus. There are tons of other examples of this kind of information in the book, and many cases where the upstarts and the do-it-yourselfers came along and made a new culture right alongside the status quo.

I’m grateful for Whitney Hoffman for recommending the book, and for getting Matt Mason himself to come to Brooklyn to attend PodCamp NYC2, where I could then meet Matt, bug him about his book, and learn more about him.

It’s a great book and worth a read:

The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism