Amateur Hour

From television (YouTube and Revver) to advertising (Craigslist and consumer-made TV ads), movies (Machinima), photography (Flickr and iStockPhoto), encyclopedias (Wikipedia and UrbanDictionary), an news (blogs and citizen journalism) technology is enabling amateurs to produce and distribute high-quality product that people want to watch, read, consume, buy, and re-use. This type of media is sometimes labeled "user-generated," "amateur," or "peer-produced" content, and there has been a huge amount of discussion on why people produce it. Any number of commentators have suggested that this is a fundamental change in the way that media is produced, and have foretold a future full of people producing media for the love of it. For all the over blown rhetoric, it's clear that many established assumptions in media are now being overturned.

What isn't as clear is what happens to existing media businesses in the age of the amateur. What has been the response of these businesses in light of the rise of the amateur, and what should be their response? Media and entertainment businesses are faced with a range of business, legal, and management issues that are both new and challenging. The time is ripe to ask what to do about this and what happens next.

And so we convened this conference. It brings many of the players in this new media environment to discuss the present and future of user generated content and existing media businesses. Among the questions that we will ask are:

• What are the innovative legal arrangements that can be deployed to the channel amateur production and distribution for success and profit?
• What are the legal risks in giving your output to people who are not under your control?
• What new business models enable traditional businesses and amateur contributors to collaborate?
• How can new markets for participatory media created be capitalized on?
• What are the latest tools, technologies, and online platforms to enable user-generated creativity and successful business?
• What will the future of media look like now that certain types of content are dominated by amateurs?

We hope that you enjoy this first Amateur Hour Conference. By bringing together attendees from law, business, and technology, the event promises to be educational and entertaining.