If you've been even half tuned-into the news in the last week, you've likely heard the word "SOPA." This U.S. legislation stands for Stop Online Piracy Act, and is intended to allow the U.S. government to monitor the Internet and crack down on web sites based overseas that sell illegal content. 
 
Frankly, the protest of SOPA may have saved the entertainment industry from itself.
 
The legislation was stopped in its tracks last week by digital activists, who overpowered more than $90 million in entertainment industry lobbying. Wikipedia and Google both participated in blackouts last Tuesday in opposition to SOPA. Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, eBay, Moxilla, Yahoo, AOL, and a good handful of other digital companies, including 75,000 sites, also protested.
 
The bill would give unprecedented reach and power to the Department of Justice to send web sites to court who direct users to whatever content is deemed an infringement on the copyright holder. The sister bill to SOPA is in the Senate and called PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Both have potential to cause substantial collateral damage to what we enjoy and have come to know as the open web. At worst, it would fundamentally change the way that Internet users are able to consume in the USA. Our nation could have a drastically different pool of information available compared to other unregulated nations. Sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook would have to heavily censor their users or risk breaking the law and being held liable for anything their users post that is considered an infringement.
 
Plus, this type of legislation introduces difficult road blocks for music industry startups—read future revenue generators for the entertainment industry. The risk of copyright infringement would be much higher, and the cost of vetting content and proper licensing would be ghastly. Companies like YouTube, Facebook, Digg, or any other social site would not be able to grow in an environment where such strict copyright regulation is in place. If those companies were founded today, they certainly would have challenges obtaining funding.
 
Don't we want to encourage innovation in this country?

Music industry executives also completely underestimate the amount (and value) of marketing they receive from social media, where users can share information about their favorite artists, shows, and other vast amounts of copyrighted work. Many people learn about new music, movies, and TV shows from their friends via social media. Besides sharing actual songs or clips of TV shows, many artists and shows get marketing momentum from people who make viral videos out of their work.

Last year, six million people viewed the Ohio University Marching Band do LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem”.

Four million people watched this guy do an a capella remake of Katy Perry’s “Firework” last year.

This kid even got a record deal from singing a Lady Gaga copyrighted song on YouTube.
He got 45 million views over the last year and a half, too.

Any of those people could go to jail for their infringements in a SOPA world.

Did those remakes hurt record sales? Doubtful.

SOPA may be gone, but the foundational cause of it is still here. We will see the entertainment industry push for stricter copyright legislation.

The irony is that few would argue that it is getting increasingly difficult for copyright holders to get compensated for their work. I absolutely believe that artist’s should be compensated fairly. But is more regulation really the best answer?

New technology that empowers fans to share their favorite content is part of what has made the U.S. entertainment industry a world leader.

Content providers who would agree to make their content available without restriction may even stand to circumvent larger industry players on the route to fans and revenue.

Will new regulation really give a harsh wake-up call to ill intentioned overseas pirates, giving them new respect to the hard work of creative people? No. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act already exists anyway—and it already gives copyright holders authority to force sites to remove infringing material with a “takedown notice.” So, if there were real harmful infringements, why not handle them with the existing law?

Had SOPA passed, it would simply have dampened the social channels that are so valuable to our entertainment industry, put significant roadblocks in the way of innovation, and encouraged a faster content revolution for copyright holders who would agree to play outside the SOPA sandbox. The digital protest against the new regulation may have been the most fortunate gift of the year for the entertainment industry.