Music Row Lawyer (C. Stephen Weaver)

Posted by a Friend - Marty Dodson

This was posted by songwriter Marty Dodson yesterday on Facebook.  This is my world and why I am so passionate about the issue of internet piracy:  "Because a couple of you have asked. Here is a representative story of the fight that songwriters are in to protect our product. Kim Dotcom, owner of illegal downloading site "Megaupload" was recently arrested in the 42 million dollar home that he was renting. He personally was making $115,000 per day from Megaupload and its sister sites. His business model was the equivalent of opening a Walmart-sized store that was stocked with only goods that were stolen from those who made them. Everything in his "store" belonged to someone else. He was making over a million dollars every 10 days, and the people who created the music, movies, or other content were getting paid nothing. I personally have a song video on YouTube (put there by someone else) that has been played over 7 million times. Google paid over $4 billion for YouTube several years ago. I have received nothing for this video. If I had been paid just 1 penny per play, that would be $70,000 in my pocket. Do you see why Google does not want internet piracy to be taken down? They are making billions off other people's content. Meanwhile, friends of mine that are extremely talented writers are losing their writing deals, publishers and labels are closing, and many people are losing their jobs. All we are asking for is a share of what people are making from our music. We don't want government handouts, just protection from criminals. If you can't rob a bank or steal from Walmart, you shouldn't steal from a songwriter, movie producer, actors, etc. Please pay for your music."

The Public Bought the Lies - SOPA and PIPA Vote Postponed

The public bought the lies.  The vote on anti-piracy legislation has been postponed.  Below is a letter from Bart Herbison, Executive Director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, to the membership.  It sums up what happened.

Dear Songwriters: Over the past two weeks legislation to combat online piracy has suffered serious setbacks. First, some key provisions of both the Protect IP ACT (U.S. Senate) and the Stop Online PIracy Act or SOPA (U.S. House of Representatives) were removed. Then, Congress was deluged with millions of communications after popular websites went dark this week in protest of both anti-piracy bills and support for both acts dwindled dramatically. Finally, today the legislation was postponed.  As we await the next steps in Congress I want to make some very important points. 1. WE WERE RIGHT. Concerns expressed by Google and others over the legislation were never accurate to begin with. Most of their previously expressed concerns were addressed when key provisions were removed. Nonetheless, while copyright holders won the debate, we lost in the court of uninformed public opinion. Over the past few weeks this moved from a debate on the issues to a political debate.... and that is when support began to erode. The tech community did a great job of instilling fear and confusion over both bills. 2. THANKS. I want to thank every songwriter, music industry person and others who worked to pass these bills. NSAI visited with more than 200 Members of Congress about these bills, just last year! Our efforts were unrivaled in terms of putting songwriters in front of lawmakers throughout this process. 3. NEXT. Anti-piracy legislation will be revamped and then considered. Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees remain dedicated to addressing the problem of Internet piracy.  We will continue fighting until a solution is found. Please watch communications from NSAI over the next few days and weeks as we strategically plan the next steps in this battle.  I am proud of every one of you who helped. This is one of the most important issues that this generation of creators will ever face. Sincerely, Bart Herbison, Executive Director NSAI

 

Content Providers Wage War Against SOPA

Today I sit here at my desk, just one cog in the wheel, working hard to help support creators and marketers of intellectual property - the culture of our society.  I am saddened by the theives that believe music, movies and literature should be free - and so just take it.  I am saddened by the enemy - the tech industry that is willing to totally destroy American culture and its creators so that they may fatten their wallets.  This morning I read this article in the Wall Street Journal.  What was particularly upsetting to me were the reader comments.

America has long been a world leader in its protection of authors and inventors.  Copyright has been the underlying foundation of that protection.  Now I read more this morning about the power brokers that want to destroy that system and the thieves and fools who are buying into it. 

The latest battle is over the proposed legislation known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).  This bill strengthens the enforcement of copyright protection by requring internet providers to assist in the battle by banning pirate websites, etc.  That is a very light treatment of the subject and there are definitely some problems with SOPA - such as a big due process issue.  However, the tech industries are telling the public this is a ban on freedom of speech.  If you want to read more about SOPA and the war against creators and their industries just google SOPA - oh - and when you go to google you will find a black banner.  Click on it and you will see Google's diatribe about SOPA.  If you want to read more about the position of those who support the fight against the pirates the visit the website of Fight Online Theft.

Oh Holy Right to Copy Your Work!

    This week we learned about the Swedish based file sharing group that received official government recognition as a religion:  The Missionary Church of Kopimism.  The official website encourages free copying and downloading.  (I call it “theft”.)  This group (membership reported at 3,000) meet, copy, remix, and generally infringe copyrighted works that they deem to be religious or spiritual.  The “church” members refer to themselves as “Kopimists” – get it?  “Kopi” – “Copy”.  In an article published at Torrent Freak, Pirate Bay founder, Rick Falkvinge, states that “In the case of this religion, the preachers are defined as the ones facilitating holy copying (and remixing).”

Some are speculating that being a religion could complicate the gathering of evidence in a copyright infringement – such as some sort of confessional privilege, including Falkvinge.  That might work under Swedish law which I am not qualified to comment on.  (If what I read is correct Swedish authorities grant any organization status as a religion that claims to be a religion.)  But I don’t believe this maneuver will work in most of the free world. Will it be that simple to upend the entire worldwide copyright system?  I doubt it.  I suspect if challenged any religious defense will fail as a sham.  Just my opinion – I certainly don’t want offend anybody’s religious sensibilities of course.  Since Kopimism has nothing to do with any God – or anything except the right to freely share copyrighted movies and other content – I doubt I have offended the personal spiritual beliefs of the 3,000 members.

I wonder what they share instead of wafers and wine while downloading, sharing and viewing the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”?

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