There are sooo many factors about this that its hard to make a point that covers everything, and its had to stay partial when explaining your point. From reading the comments etc and various reports about SOPA, it seems everyone is going on about the music companies rather than the artists they represent. IMO the music companies are the ones who have been making the money off of someone else's talent for a long time now, perhaps taking more than their fair share. Do I feel sorry for the profit driven record labels? No I don’t. Its no coincidence that all of the richest artists in the world are the ones who have built their own record labels and cut out the middle man, and hats off to them, the ones with the talent are the ones who should make the biggest share. With the opening of apple's itunes it gave (even the smallest) artists the chance of putting their content on the internet to buy, without having to necessarily deal with the companies who have have been making millions/billions off them for years.. Several artists (and i would go as far as saying most) have now accepted that downloading music is the new norm and itunes is the way to keep the money coming in, whilst also being able to appeal to the masses. When you read (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swiss-govt-downloading-movies-and-music-will-stay-legal-111202/)then" rel="nofollow">https://torrentfreak.com/swiss-govt-downloading-movies-and-m...</a> take into account that alot of music artists have actually uploaded their own albums to torrent sites prior to release to gain attention, it would seem the artists know exactly how to play the market. I can truthfully say I have been to many gigs I wouldn’t have known about etc had I not downloaded the artists albums, I have also bought merchandise as a result of this.<p>then you read something like <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/retired-computerless-woman-fined-for-pirating-hooligan-movie-111222/" rel="nofollow">https://torrentfreak.com/retired-computerless-woman-fined-fo...</a> , and realise this is what would happen if the music companies had their way. Profit at any costs, even when it cant even be proven that any crime has been breached.<p>At the end of the day I see the music companies fighting a losing battle (the megalupload takedown certainly didnt help), the musicians still "making it rich" and the consumers who buy music STILL buying music, though direct from the musician, thats why the companies are trying to have this act passed.