Leaves Lady Gaga in the Dust

In their 2006 Cato Policy Analysis, “Amateur‐​to‐​Amateur: The Rise of a New Creative Culture,” Gregory Lastowka and Dan Hunter wrote about how the functions that make up the creative cycle — creation, selection, production, dissemination, promotion, sale, and use of expressive content — are undergoing revolutionary decentralization and disintermediation.


The only thing professional in the clip below was the writing of the song. It deserves its credit, but the performance itself, production of the video, its selection, dissemination, and promotion (Twitter users, YouTube) are all amateur or amateur supported by a professionally managed, ad‐​supported platform.

Watch it a second time to take in the reactions of the girls sitting in front of the map. If you like, compare it with the tacky, overproduced, and flat “professional video”.


This is amateur entertainment that rivals any professional production, in part because it’s amateur. Assuming this performer dedicates himself further to his craft, he can rival or surpass anything put out by yesterday’s professionals.


(And, yes, I’m waiting to learn that I’ve been duped by some clever marketing scheme, but I hope this is real.)