David Arditi, "Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok" (Anthem Press, 2026)

April 7, 2026·40 min·3 clips

David Arditi explains why 'piracy' is a term the FBI uses, even though no U.S. law defines copyright violation as piracy.

A familiar industry panic sits under the exchange. Home taping is not treated as a simple complaint about copying. The anxiety is about who gets to move music around when record labels are no longer the only route. Tape trading matters for that reason. In punk and hip-hop, cassette exchange let independent artists pass work through scenes and habits, not just purchases. Labels did not love that. Their business depended on music sales, but independent artists could still become competition without asking permission. So the panic had a job to do. If the technology was the villain, labels could go after the informal routes that made free circulation possible. The old charge was blunt: home taping was killing music. Here, it comes off more like a fight over control dressed up as concern for music itself. Then the labor question opens out. The speaker connects musicians' contracts to a social condition he calls the gig trap. The examples stay ordinary on purpose. Uber drivers, entrepreneurs, and interns all show up as workers asked to live with precarity because the next chance might finally pay. Independence gets slippery. It can mean creative freedom. It can also mean cheaper labor, shorter commitments, and people who are easier to replace. The point lands without much shouting. Music technology panics are about more than copied songs. They are about markets pushing back when artists, listeners, and workers find other paths.

As heard by us

A steady look at how tech panic can squeeze independent artists and precarious workers.

David Arditi uses this New Books conversation to trace a familiar music-industry pattern: new technology gets treated like the threat, and the backlash often lands on independent artists first.

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