by Alex Valente
Consider this example: Marvel Comics publishes Spider-Man, Sony makes a Spider-Man film or videogame, and your local queer fan-artist sells an art zine or print inspired by that film. There is a cost associated with each of these items: the floppy or trade collected comic; a cinema ticket or streaming subscription; the art print itself. But, there is no ethical consumption. ‘Illegally’ downloading or streaming the film, torrenting or finding a hosting site for the comic, or pirating the zine are all the same act: you are overcoming the monetary gatekeeping of art. With one exception: if you ‘steal’ from Marvel, Sony or any other megacorp you might even be doing some good; if you do it to an artist who is trying to pay their bills, you’re an asshole.
Similar discussions can be had for visual media, music, videogames, even software. There’s a memesphere resurgence every time Netflix announces another price raise, or another media company is assimilated by the totally not homophobic, transphobic, nazi-adjacent Mouse Empire (or the infamous Metallica vs Napster case from 2000). Even just focusing on the publishing industry, issues abound: editorial and marketing gatekeeping, Digital Rights Management (DRM; a handy umbrella term for all sorts of measures and tools to control access to digital media, among other things), misunderstanding of creative labour, intellectual property and copyright laws – the very existence of copyright and…
