I'm in my lounge room, Emma and Cam are singing Gnarls Barkley's “Crazy" with Kyle strumming his guitar. Emma is recording the jam session to upload to YouTube. Later, Emma, Cam and Kyle will be convicted of piracy. The 23-year-old who uses YouTube as an avenue to share her gift, to be a part of something bigger then herself will be reprimanded for giving joy. In a world where SOPA is passed globally Emma's light will be left behind in Cronulla. She will never get discovered, she'll never meet PJ Harvey, she'll live in the present not dreaming of the future.
The reality of SOPA being passed as a law in Australia is a distant thought. But the potential after-effects of deconstructing the online arts industry have been noted by the community.
I've been asked all week, "What do you think of this whole SOPA thing?" I'm not going to pretend I understand the full implications of the 'Stop Online Piracy Act' (SOPA) but I recognised the storm clouds forming.
We've become accustomed to the freedom to redistribute content online. We've become more creative beings with the freedom to create content beyond our means. Emma doesn't pay for the backing tracks she uses to practice singing. Would she be the same performer without A) The support from her YouTube subscribers or B) The freely available resources she uses to become the best she can be?
This week, Wikipedia went into darkness, Google blacked out their logo, Grooveshark lowered the volume and the people cried out. If you are not sure what SOPA is, Wikipedia says: "The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill proposed by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (Republican) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods." (Thanks consumer-created content Wikipedia.)
I personally can't see how they can limit redistribution of creativity, in an economy that's based on reproducing people, goods and services. To grow something new you take seeds from an already flourishing flower. Rafael Bonachela (Sydney Dance Company artistic director) took inspiration from the music score from Oceans by Italian composer Ezio Bosso. Did Bonachela pay a fee for the creative inspiration? Who inspired Bosso?
If the implications of SOPA try and track creativity it's going to be a never-ending murder mystery. Do we have the capabilities to handle an influx of request for permission of redistribution of content? Who does Emma ask or pay to record a Jeff Buckley track? In an age where a new YouTube video is uploaded every second it would be impossible to police creative reproduced content.
For now Emma is okay. But be prepared to draw your sword.
As Wikipedia said, we're not done yet.
Megan Aney
Community Manager
Reprise Media (Social)
The AdNews NGen blog: SOPA from a YouTube user
23 January 2012