PropertyOfZack is stoked to welcome back Eron Bucciarelli of Hawthorne Heights for his second Contributor Blog. Eron’s first blog addressed Hawthorne Heights’s experience in the music industry and the formation of the band’s own record label, among many other great things. In his second blog, Eron discussed SOPA, PIPA, Megaupload, and the possible imminent death of illegal downloading, which is something that could greatly change the industry once again. Read up and enjoy, there will be more to come!
With all of the news about SOPA, PIPA and Megaupload being shut down recently (who’s shutdown had a laughable impact on illegal downloading), I couldn’t think of a more opportune time than now to write about something I’ve been talking about in interviews for a few months now. So up on my soapbox I go… I’m here to proclaim the imminent death of illegal downloading. It isn’t quite dead yet, but it has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Forget what the “doctors” (aka: politicians attempting to rob us of our constitutional freedoms) are saying about the need for SOPA, PIPA and Torrent sites being shut down. These are NOT the cause or reason behind the end of illegal downloading.
The culprit(s) is much more fiendishly simple as, for many of us, it has wound its way seamlessly into our everyday lives. iOS and Android. That’s right, the phone or tablet you probably use on a day to day basis is pumping deadly carcinogens into the business of illegal downloading. I’ll elaborate. Each day more and more people replace their home computers with tablets and laptops with smart phones. As a species, humans have become total and complete suckers for the newest, flashiest, coolest device that will make our lives easier, more convenient and above all make us feel better about ourselves. For these reasons, mobile devices will continue to proliferate as desktops continue to decline in usage. These mobile devices run on CLOSED operating systems meaning you can only really do things which Apple and Google deem acceptable or risk voiding your warranty (which most people aren’t willing to do). On the list of unacceptable items is…drum roll please…you guessed it: Torrents. This means if you want music, you have to switch to one of the accepted sources of consumption: iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, etc.
