Since 2008, The Bootleg Festival: Mixtapes, Film & Hip-Hop’s Underground Economy featured the work of more than 50 filmmakers from all over the world. The inaugural festival attracted more than 300 attendees and last year’s festival (2009) increased attendance by almost 500% with over 1,000 guests over four days.
The event consists of concerts, workshops, film screenings, panel discussions and an arts installation. More than anything, it’s an experience of what is not often seen in commercial media: hip-hop’s underground economy. The Bootleg Festival is designed to shine light on contradictions in hip-hop and its contributions to the larger dialogue about popular culture, globalization and how hip-hop reflects and resists both. There is a specific focus on explaining how to create, distribute and profit from the creation of media. This includes a focus on intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks and bootlegging.
The Bootleg Festival Aims To…
• Expose often unseen or heard stories about hip-hops underground economies
• Take full advantage of the re-emerging hip-hop seen in the District of Columbia
• Convene artists, scholars and entrepreneurs from our field, whose primary focus is media production and distribution.
• Showcase the work of some of the most innovative and profitable models of production and distribution in the District of Columbia
• Introduce the next generation to tools for media production and distribution
The Untitled Issue is dedicated to taking its readers on a journey through the many ways in which hip-hop scholars, artists and activists are archiving and evaluating the meaning and impact of this culture all over the world. This issue is good for at least two stamps in your passport and some frequent flier miles. Order yours today.
