Abe on SOPA

This is my first blog and I want to be clear about my goal for it. I want to discuss topics that are relevant to me but more importantly that others can relate to in some way. I don’t so much want to talk about myself or my opinion, but more so I want to draw out what others think. I tend to be very open about my opinions and how I feel about things in person, so I want to try a different approach with this. I will try and throw out an idea or series of questions and hopefully people will find it enticing enough to leave a comment, after all that is the point of a blog. Get readers and get people talking.

So for this week I offer a few questions about SOPA and what it means to the future of entertainment and more importantly the super highway of information that is the Internet.

If you come to my house you won’t be watching cable, because I don’t have it. I do have Netflix and a ton of movies on a portable hard drive. And I bet I get the new ones way before most people. If you want to take a car ride we won’t be listening to CD because I don’t own them. I will however put my music collection up against most people’s, and I don’t care what you listen to, I've probably got it. This semester in school when other students are franticly working in the Mac Lab utilizing the school's bank of expensive software, I’ll be at home working on my PC with the same software minus the expenses.

Don’t ask how I got my media collection because I won’t tell you. Don’t ask for a copy because I don’t burn them. And if you ask me about SOPA, I’ll tell you I don’t care one way or the other. Those so-called rules to prevent online piracy are for people who are guilty of committing crimes that don’t really exist.

1. Who’s really supporting SOPA, the artist or the corporations they work for?

Ultimately it has to be one of the two that would truly have any room to complain about piracy. Are musicians, movie stars, and software developers, alike, just so unsatisfied with the money that they receive in return for pouring the heart and soul into their products? As an artist, I pray for the day that my work is so desired that people are willing to steal to have it. And please don’t take that the wrong way.

Perhaps it’s actually the record labels and the big budget studios that are the ones who feel that they are being exploited. After all, without a big label it’s nearly impossible to make it these days, right? Or maybe it’s the other way around. Without the artist to provide them with a product to sell, they would all be out of a job. And online piracy just might be a significant hole in their corporate pockets.

2. What happened to competition?

Here’s an idea: If you want me to buy a CD why don’t you give me a little more? I bought a Gorillaz CD a few years back and it came with a bunch of stickers, buttons, and patches. Totally worth the $15 or whatever it was. When you buy a video game these days they give you an online code for extra content to the game to help “sweeten the pot.” I could go on and on with ideas for this but that’s someone else’s job.

3. Aren’t bands and directors alike at a point where they can distribute their art for themselves, cutting the middle man out and lowering prices?

I know there are hundreds of artists out there who have horrible contracts with even worse companies. But isn’t there a large percentage of bands, actors, directors, and so forth that are past the point of needing a big company to do their advertisements and distribution for them? Madonna just signed a three-record deal with Interscope Records. You mean to tell me she couldn’t do the recording and promotion herself under her own name? Wouldn’t that in turn make it possible to sell a cheaper CD? With the possibilities that the internet afford us, is a big label really that necessary? Ask Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) or Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5) if you can make a name for yourself on your own. Now, give me the option to buy a CD right from the artist, you might be able to talk me into it. Especially if you give me a sticker and a button!  

4. If some form of SOPA does go into effect, will web-based companies really fight it or just go along?

Of course companies like Google and YouTube are going to fight SOPA, especially with a large majority of the public doing the same. But how far are they willing to take it? If some form of the Piracy Act does take effect, is YouTube really going to close its proverbial doors? And I understand that this is supposed to try and prevent web sites in foreign countries from offering pirated information to the United States, but doesn’t that also include a lot of sponsors and product sales?  

So there you have it folks, my first blog! More to follow...