This post was written by Shane Jones, a music industry fanatic who’s interests extends beyond just listening to all the intricacies involved with networking and building a brand. His real passion lies in folk-Americana bands, particularly projects he has worked on in the past, such as The Vulcans. You can follow him on Twitter @shanejones15.
Causing a buzz across the entire U.S. internet community is the widely unpopular bill proposed by Congress known as SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. Coupled with its sidekick, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), the two bills pose a major threat to online rights and freedom of speech by censoring any site that has allegedly engaged in copyright infringement.
The aim for these bills is to inhibit online practices of digital theft, and disseminate a strict anti-piracy culture across the web. This attempt to censor the web from all sites that encourage copyright infringement comes with the increasing trends of digital piracy and the negative implications they hold for the entertainment industry, specifically the music and film industries. These trends have been outlined in the infographic created by the internet marketing company WebpageFX (at the bottom of this article).
Luckily, because of the widespread opposition from U.S. citizens via the web, these two bills have been declared “toxic” and postponed until further notice.
While the intention behind SOPA/PIPA appears beneficial to musicians at first glance, here are three examples which indicate otherwise:
1. Karmin and YouTube
Newly discovered pop duo, Karmin hit it big after a series of YouTube cover videos caught the eye of the public. Karmin’s talent may have gone completely unnoticed had the bills been enacted. Under SOPA/PIPA’s terms sites like YouTube could be shut down on a regular basis to take down videos littered with copyrighted music, TV clips, …Read the full story
Source:: Tight Mix Blog