James Spencer On "Content Production," Money, and Morality

James Spencer is one of the best people I know (so, for that matter, is his partner-in-beer Andy Sparks) -- and he's good at what he does: Producing "content" for his website, dvds, podcasts, etc. (Among other things, he's responsible for what I regard as the single best interview I've ever had, and I've had a lot of 'em.) (*1) So when he speaks, people oughta listen. Taking a bit of a liberty here (hey! It's my website . . . ) to "bump up" a comment he made on an earlier blog entry of mine because it relates (and I hope adds credibility) to my   "ain't no free lunch" rant.

As another independent content producer, I have to make one point. If you don't want to pay $15 to see the movie (and live discussion afterwards), I hope you're not waiting to download a pirated version of the movie somewhere else. I'm not going to see the theater showing, because the nearest theater is about two hours away from me. However, I will put it on my Netflix list when it's available. Just as I am willing to pay a higher price for great beers from independent brewers, I'm willing to go through the proper and legitimate channels to support content from independent producers.

As a fellow "independent content producer," I say: Amen. (And the "Beer Wars" dvd comes out in August.)

____________ *1: You can hear that two-part interview by visiting the basicbrewing website. Click on radiocasts and then the archives for 2006.