Don’t Believe the Astroturf: Yet More Regulations Won’t Help Songwriters or Small Business — Music Tech Solutions | MUSIC • TECHNOLOGY • POLICY

By Chris Castle

“[Government] interference is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions, every subsequent interference being naturally produced by the effects of the preceding.” James Madison, The Federalist Papers No. 44

There is a bill in Congress backed by the mega lobbying juggernaut called the MIC Coalition that would force songwriters and artists to “register” with the government in order to protect their rights from the biggest corporations in the world. Failing to do so would take away the stick of statutory damages and an award of attorneys fees to songwriters or artists who are victorious in copyright infringement litigation. Statutory damages and attorneys’ fees are the only real protection that the government gives these creators–the smallest of small businesses.

via Don’t Believe the Astroturf: Yet More Regulations Won’t Help Songwriters or Small Business — Music Tech Solutions

[from http://ift.tt/2llz3cO]