Que SIRA SIRA

…whatever will be, will be, if you don’t put your two cents into the latest Capitol Hill copyright fight. The Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) would revise the way that businesses and consumers pay for the right to make “incidental” copies of songs.

For instance, when I worked in radio, we had to make incidental copies when we dubbed songs onto carts or onto digital playback devices. Today, you make incidental copies of songs whenever you listen to a live web stream or when you back up your iTunes collection for safekeeping.

The music industry brain trust realized that they could actually start charging for these incidental copies, which would amount to a taxi meter spinning on your computer anytime you actually do anything with music.

Here’s why I think working musicians should oppose this legislation:

* It would discourage fans from spreading your music. (Remember, fans swapping songs is a good thing when you understand that album sales are your SMALLEST stream of revenue.)
* It would cripple independent music web streams and podcasts.
* It would create another situation where fans, not understanding how little money musicians really make from recordings, feel like you don’t need their support.

The folks at iPac can show you what you can do to prevent “double-dipping” before labels have another fun avenue for lawsuits against grannies and little kids.

In