“Downloaded,” a documentary film exploring the history of sharing music on the Internet, made its world premiere Sunday at South by Southwest, a festival that marries music, technology and film.
Director Alex Winter focuses on Napster, the file sharing network that allowed 25 million people to share 80 million recordings in what became an early social network. The service allowed users to download music for free from each other’s computers until a lawsuit brought by the recording industry forced it to shut down in 2001.
But by then, a new generation had become accustomed to getting music for free, and the industry and musicians saw revenues plummet.
The founders of Napster, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, participate in the film, but Winter allows all sides of the debate over free music to make their cases, often using archival news footage.
“It wasn’t hard for me to balance the two points of view, because I have two points of view,” Winter said. “I don’t think the old school is right to try to criminalize the downloading generation, and I don’t think the downloading generation is right saying that everything should be free.”
The story of Napster echoes today, as the Justice Department pursues the extradition of Kim Dotcom, the founder of MegaUpload, where users share videos. The New Zealander is accused of criminal violation of U.S. copyright laws and money laundering.
Fanning said it was tough to have a film made about something he did when he was a 19-year-old music fan.
“We didn’t think we were doing something that was going to change the world,” Fanning said. “Everyone online was contributing and sharing, and I didn’t realize this fully while I was developing it, but that was the first time everyone on the Internet was publishing content. In the end everyone had a voice, and to see that that voice can have an effect was amazing.”
Winter originally planned to make a feature film for MTV but after failing to win backing, decided to make a documentary for VH1. The network plans to broadcast the film next month.
A Similar But Different Take On A Feature Film Debut
Similar But Different is not only the moniker for the directorial duo of Dani Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler but also in some respects an apt description of their feature filmmaking debut, My Fault: London (Amazon MGM Studios). The movie, which premiered last week on Amazon Prime Video, has on one level some select elements similar to what we’re accustomed to in the young adult (YA) universe--which helps make it familiar, comfortable and relatable--yet at the same time My Fault: London brings a new, decidedly different dimension to YA entertainment, uniquely meshing action-adventure, mystery, music, romance and humor. The film captures the feel of the underground London culture, lending an authenticity and contemporary vibe that’s a departure from the norm when it comes to the adaptation of YA literature. This mesh of similar but different has served the film well in that there was some target audience skepticism initially over the notion of doing an English adaptation of the popular, fan-favorite Spanish-language novel “Culpa Mia,” the first of the “Culpables” trilogy. Thus it’s most gratifying for Girdwood and Fassler to see the social media response after the release of My Fault: London, with many viewers enthusiastically embracing the film. My Fault: London introduces us to Noah (portrayed by Asha Banks) who’s uprooted from her U.S. hometown, having to leave her boyfriend and friends behind to move with her mother (Eve Macklin) to London. Mom has a new rich husband (Ray Fearon) in London and their new residence is a mansion. There Noah meets Nick (Matthew Broome), her new stepbrother. They have an immediate mutual dislike for each other which blossoms into something quite different over time. Along the... Read More