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How Music Got Free, an intriguing two-part docuseries centered on the music industry's digital revolution, initially premiered at SXSW in March 2024. It aired on Paramount+ in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, and was released internationally the next day, on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
The docuseries is based on Stephen Witt's book How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy, published in 2015. Alexandra Stapleton directed the documentary and executive produced it along with Eminem, LeBron James, and several others. Viewers looking to watch How Music Got Free online can head to the streaming platform Paramount+.
How to watch How Music Got Free online?
The only place viewers can watch the docuseries online is Paramount+. Subscribers to the streaming service can go ahead and watch How Music Got Free by simply logging in. For everyone else, a paid subscription will be needed to access the show. In such cases, one can avail the 7-day free trial offer while signing up for one of their plans mentioned below.
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The first plan, Paramount+ Essential is available for a monthly fee of only $5.99 (starts after the free trial). This plan allows viewers to stream all the movies and television shows available on Paramount+. Additionally, it also offers access to CBS News, NFL on CBS, and the UEFA Champions League.
The second plan is Paramount+ with Showtime, which costs just $11.99 per month (starts after the free trial) and offers full access to both Paramount+ and Showtime’s extensive catalog of top-rated movies and television shows.
What is How Music Got Free about?
Narrated by Method Man, the documentary takes a deep dive into the internet piracy scene that dominated the music industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The official logline for the docuseries reads as follows:
"From New York City, to Los Angeles, to the small factory town of Shelby, North Carolina, the two-part series features the quirky genius of the heretofore-unknown “pirates,” the drama of the FBI investigations and convictions, and the frontline accounts of music’s biggest artists and executives."
It continues:
"An unbelievable story of cunning, illegality, celebrity, and innovation, these are the events that changed the music industry forever.”
Before the start of the new millennium, CD sales were a hugely profitable business, with hundreds of millions of records being sold each year. But with the rise of music piracy, the booming record business suffered drastically in the span of just a few years.
Internet piracy allowed the illegal download and free distribution of MP3s and, in turn, led to the popularity of online file sharing and streaming sites like Napster. It disrupted the musical landscape and helped usher in the digital music revolution of the present.
The documentary features interviews with high-profile artists like Eminem, Method Man, Timbaland, and Rhymefest to uncover their personal experiences with digital pirating. It also includes interviews and personal anecdotes from Della Glover, a music pirate, to gain a well-rounded perspective on this issue.
Stay tuned for the latest updates on the most trending movies and television shows of 2024.
