What about that SOPA/PIPA thing?

If you woke up from your New Year's Eve partying, then you most likely heard about the SOPA/PIPA bills. If you don't know much about it, you should watch this video:






For those of you who didn't want to watch the video or didn't have enough time, in short the SOPA/PIPA bills are proposed legislature that enforces protection and action against illegal pirating and downloading. Wikipedia explains both SOPA and PIPA well.

Both bills received tremendous opposition from all over the internet. Sites like Wikiepedia, Reddit and 7,000 other sites all blacked out for 24 hours on January 18th. At americancensorship.org you were able to write to congress in opposition. And apparently the internet strike worked because the bills did not pass. 


I participated in the write to congress campaign and encouraged my friends and roommates to do so also. I personally felt that the internet is something that shouldn't be controlled by the government. Trying to censor everything over the internet would be impossible and the government would have to take drastic measures to do so. Attacking individuals who have illegally downloaded would mean punishing millions. A free nation means a free internet and unless we want to follow our communist brother in China, these bills should be stopped from being proposed again.


I wanted to bring this subject back up again for a couple reasons. One, it is still important and we shouldn't forget about it just because it has left the front page of the media. Two because with this being a music blog, let's just face it, many music lovers today are downloading their music via torrents, rar files, etc.


My "solution" is to leave it alone. The world's technology is rapidly growing and new media is updated daily. My solution for bands is to live in it and work in it. Accept that many listeners may be illegally downloading their music and work with this. Offer songs and albums for free. Then how would they make any money? Utilize other methods like tours, tickets, merchandise, fund raising or getting your song on television/film.


Now this may not be enough to sustain and if this is the case, then accept the world it is. Do your best to promote your music and encourage people to buy. But getting pissed off that someone may have stolen your music because they wanted to listen to YOU should not be a reason to make it impossible to hear your music. So live with it, accept the environment and make it work!