The Hypocrisy: New Piracy Act In Entertainment and Hip-Hop

The Hypocrisy: New Piracy Act  in Entertainment and Hip-Hop

Within recent days, the fate of the liberal spirit in the arts and entertainment worlds have been surrounded by lingering doubts and hanging in the balance in lieu of  two newly created Congressional Bills- The Protect IP Act (PIPA), which is before the United States Senate and The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently being addressed by the United States House of Representatives. This is the story of how 2 passings of newly reformed bills can potentially put constraints on the the aspiring viral entertainment entrepreneur before they even get their time to shine. 

According to statements made by Google, Inc. (2012), "The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China- sanction the whole nation from online media and online liberal arts to which may sway the mindset of citizens within the country, which currently is governed by strict dictatorship. Along with this, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. In response to this, companies such as AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, IAC, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress , entiteld the "Protect Innovation Letter" stating these bills 'pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness if passed'".

Google representatives have also stated that there are  41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professors  whom expressed their deepest concerns in a letter directed to the United States House of Representatives (Google, 2012). Google explains further that Anti- PIPA/SOPA supporters feel that fighting piracy is important, and pirate websites should be eliminated through structured, closely targeted legislation that rids those sites stream of funding, and feel that there is  no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censored on the Internet, nor undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive (Google, 2012).   


The first of many piracy blows, struck within the Hip-Hop community first. 

PIPA, SOPA, and Hip-Hop 

On November 23 of 2010, It was reported by numerous sources that the U.S. government seized over 80 website domains and websites that they suspected were engaged in piracy, the sale of couterfeit goods, and the promotion of illegally copyrighted material.  

According an article written by famed Hip-Hop writer and blogger B-Easy of Nappy Afro Dot Com, " Hip-Hop sites OnSmash, RapGodfathers, and Dajaz1 were among them. The sites are now replaced with this image. Of course, since these seizures, the issue of music piracy and the DMCA has been a big topic in the online Hip-Hop community (Easy, 2010). " 

Here is Lupe Fiasco's take on his music being Pirated: 

"People are trapped in the culture where music needs to be free and you don’t need to pay for it....But, at a bare minimum it costs me, literally out of my own pocket, it costs me $3,000 to $4,000 to make a song. It costs me about $700 to $800 to make a freestyle. I’m giving you that. Just imagine if I work with The Neptunes, including studio time and everything that goes into it — flying people around — it gets up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a song like ‘I’m Beamin’ or ‘I Gotcha.’ So to kinda see it on the Internet and, for some instances, for sale, who are you to have the right to tell me that I shouldn’t demand payment or feel a certain way for seeing people put my music out there like that. If I chose to do that, that’s one thing. But I didn’t choose to do that. That music was stolen.”

In early 2011, key songs Lupe Fiasco created for his upcoming album  were illegially stolen and sold without his consent online, as he explains on MTV's TRL. 

This incident happend two years ago, in which in turned, catapulted the efforts of PIPA/SOPA being pushed into effect today,and yet and still, the hip-hop community is being earmarked as the first choice for these organizations to make an example out of. 


MegaUpload.Com and Swizz Beatz

Sources tell Chris RichBurg, contributing Writer for All Hip Hop Dot Com News, that recently, Super-Producer Swizz Beats has  been unaffiliated with Mega Upload as its CEO (Richburg, 2012).  The controversial file sharing website  was seized on January 19, 2012 by Federal prosecutors in McLean, Virginia , claiming that the company has cost copyright holders over $500 million in lost revenue, from pirated films and music being shared on the website.  


Richburg also reports that MegaUpload.com is aslo reported as to have been founded by convicted cyber criminal/entrepreneur Kim Schimtz aka Kim Dotcom and employed over 150 people, mostly IT professionals and software engineers. It has recently been seized due to a numerous list of federal felony crimes which includes massive copyright infringement and racketeering charges, which brought in MegaUpload an alleged $175 Million  in profit (Richburg, 2012). According to All Hip Hop Dot Com and Richburg (2012), Four of the seven defendants named in the case were arrested in New Zealand, and in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, police have seized Kim Dotcom’s expensive Maserati’s, Mercedes-Benz’s and other luxury vehicles (Richburg, 2012). 


 Richburg (2012), states that, "Federal prosecutors denied that there was a link between Megaupload.com’s shut down and the timing of the SOPA/PIPA legislation that would have given the government tighter control and regulation of piracy on the Internet, but the Justice Department said that this action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States " 


Apparently, Richbug also reports that Ira Rothken, attorney for MegaUpload.com explained to RollingStone.com that "Kaseem Dean [Swizz Beatz] was never involved in any meaningful way with the website, but was in talks to helm it. We have had negotiations with Mr. Dean to become the CEO, however, nothing was ever official." 

All Hip Hop News finally explains that various major federal and industry websites have been "hacked" and shut down by Internet Hackers, some of which include the Department of Justice, the MPAA, Universal Music, and the RIAA and The FBI’s website, www.fbi.gov, is reportedly the next site on the list for Anonymous, a “hacktivist” group in Sweden that claimed responsibility for shutting down the Department of Justice website (All Hip Hop, 2012). 

 Swizz Beatz, born Kasseem Dean,  has not provided any response comments at this time. 

At The END of the day.....

Such silent protest on an international level, can quite possibly pose tensions between allied United Nations countries, due to the "hactivist" stance, and is becoming quickly more than just a national issue.  By the passing of these new bills, the creative freedom and essence of the most commercialized and globalized artform in the world  can be so constricted online, that it can directly affect the 2nd and 3rd Amendment rights of in country for the passionate individuals within this Culture, this industry, and this ever evolving artform.  

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th, 2012 on this matter.... you can speak up, or be silenced forever. 

Works Cited

Access. (2011, November 15). Letter From The International Human Rights Community . Retrieved January 21, 2012 , from CDT: http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA-letter-from-Intl-human-rights-community.pdf

Easy, B. (2010, December 7). Lupe Fiasco's Thought on Online Piracy. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from Nappy Afro: http://www.nappyafro.com/2010/12/07/lupe-fiascos-thoughts-about-online-piracy/

Google. (2012, January 19). End Piracy, Not Liberty. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from Google: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Legal Professionals Against PIPA. (2011, November 15). Professors’ Letter in Opposition to “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011”.

Retrieved january 21, 2012, from CDT :

http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA_House_letter_with_PROTECT_IP_letter_FINAL.pdf

McSherry, C. (2010, November 29). U.S. Government Seizes 82 Websites: A Glimpse at the Draconian Future of Copyright Enforcement? Retrieved January 21, 2012, from Eledtronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/11/us-government-seizes-82-websites-draconian-future

Richburg, C. (2012 , January 21). Megaupload.com Update: Lawyer Says Swizz Beatz Is Not Company CEO. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from All Hip Hop Dot Com: http://allhiphop.com/2012/01/21/megaupload-com-update-lawyer-says-swizz-beatz-is-not-company-ceo/

Cost Effective Campaigns- Marketing You Product With Limited Funds

(Image provided by: http://www.hireezy.com/index.php/portfolio/iphone-ipad-integration/)

One of the obstacles that all new individuals to the entertainment and media industry have to face with trying to market themselves has got to be the finances to even get yourself out there. Not to worry, there are numerous resources out there that are little to nothing, and virtually F-R-E-E.

Google, Inc. has come up with a host of different products which can work in your favor, free of charge, that can not only gain exposure for you, but also show you how to generate traffic, which in turn, can create revenue to broaden your reach, and even open up your marketing reach, niche, and even more innovative ways to push your overall marketing campaign.

Recently, Google has created two new services and two new additions to Blogger that are sure to give you all the insight that you need to be a competitive force within both your local and global market.

According to Google, Inc., it has recently launched a add-on to its plus campaign that allows your to create user friendly websites and domains with just one click, that not only generates and can calculate traffic for you, but also links to all of your other Google Products, including your phone! Google Sites, as it is called, "uses " is powerful enough for a company intranet, yet simple enough for a family website. You can start a site from scratch or from a template." But don't just take my word for it, even major business executives are utilizing Google Sites. Here is what Google Sites Includes:

According to Google Sites, Steve Lightstone, President of Corner Office Leads, Google Site has been god send for his company. Lightstone explains,

" Corner Office Leads executes lead generation appointment setting campaigns for software vendors who want to sell high. Google Sites has revolutionized the way we communicate with our clients and with our team members. We currently have 15 Active Google Sites. Each of our clients has a dedicated site containing important project related information. As an example, we use lists to capture information about the meetings we setup. Several people, from the client and from Corner Office, can update information on each meeting in real time. Now Management on both sides can see the project status in real time without literally dozens of emails flying around and without building dashboards weekly. Everyone uses the subscribe feature to see the status change and to see if they are now responsible for a next step."

Another free product is Blogger, now with the capability to add and share directly via FaceBook and Twitter, add gadgets such as RSS Feeds to other industry related websites and resources, create and show a video bar, which can contain all of your own musical and entertainment related videos of yourself and other artist, and even links to a LinkedIn Profile that can draw other clients. Seems simple, and easy right. This is where it gets even more interesting. You can also add Gadgets that can calculate your demographics, show you target market, and create a sitemap for you for free too. All of them are just clicks away on www.google.com/analytics. I will even go one step further, and show you how to below. Here is how:

1. Go to google.com/analytics
2. click "Sign Up Now"

3. Enter your Google account information (gmail account and password) and then sign in

4. Click sign up again

5. Add your account name (or Blog URL)

6. Add your blog URL without the http://

7. Read agreement and select“yes,I agree"

   to the above terms and conditions”

8. Click “Create account”

9. Open a new tab and put in the Url " draft.blogger.com"

10. Click on “template” on the left sidebar to see what type of template you are using

11. Scroll down to HTML code box

12. Copy HTML code

13. Go back to your blogger tab and click on “Layout” on the left

14. Click “add a gadget”

15. Add an HTML/ JavaScript gadget

16. Paste the HTML from analytics here without a title and click “save” and then click “save arrangement” on your layout

17. Go back to your analytics tab and click “save” here too

(Steps provided by: http://media.online.fullsail.edu/storeA/FULLSAIL/faculty/2012/01/Tutorial_Analytics4ba99302-29fb-458c-96cb-81f6b1ff696b.pdf).

The next step is to generate a Site Map, and follow the instructions step-by-step on google.com/webmaster. The results will be then auto-calculated for you, and sent to you via email, or added as a tab on your Blog if you chose it to be. With those numbers, you can then position yourself with a publicist, marketing firm, or create a presentation to show potential sponsors and investors. Great to be able to get a ROI (Return On Investment) off of a resource that didn't cost a thing now isn't it?

If you do happen to have a little cash to spare, one way to instantly gain followers, listenership, and fans is to link with a site that creates QR Codes for your company, or hire a marketing product company, Such as 5 Linx, that offers business marketing services at a flat, under $50 monthly fee.

QR codes are a quick way to cross-market your album, singles, and mixtapes, to other sites and companies, connect a gig poster with a place to buy tickets, connect posters to a video or track that "sells" the band, connect a CD cover to bonus content, or even immediately establish new fans in a demographic that was not present at the initial launch of the work. In our industry, it is obvious that it is a "numbers game", and numbers definitely don't lie. And, little tricks of the trade like this can make all the difference. For example, Lupe Fiasco sold over 204,000 copies his first week and gave him his first number one debut CD, by plastering his QR code onto a huge building in San Francisco prior to the release of his album in March 2011. Companies like 5 Linx, Inc. offer such services. Here is 5 Linx mission statement:

5LINX® is a true one-stop shop for all the essential products and services for the home and business! Whether you are looking for digital home phone service that provides unlimited local and long distance calling in the U.S., Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico plus FREE unlimited landline calls to 75 calling areas, wireless phones and accessories, satellite television, or Broadband Internet service, energy (gas and electric), security systems, identity theft protection, or a host of business services, 5LINX® has something for everyone.

The Best bet for someone who is business savvy and frugal is to take advantage of a company like theirs Business Elite Package with an additional Text Alert services. 5 Linx B.E. includes, This complete package includes virtually everything a small business needs to decrease costs and increase profits, including text marketing service, computer tech support, web conferencing, and an exclusive VIP discount program. You may be a small business, but you don’t have to appear that way.

In addition, TextAlertz is a fast, affordable and easy way to stay in contact with your customers. Leverage the power of mobile marketing to increase sales for your business. TextAlertz allows you to communicate on-demand with your entire database. Share important announcements, or send mobile coupons and special offers. Your customers will appreciate the extra value you provide, and you will appreciate the boost to your bottom line.

Both of these services will cost you less than $50 or so dollars a month, but the amount of increase in your demographic reach is infinitely endless if used correctly.

Now that you have some new resources at your arsenal, go forth, apply, and take the world by storm. Just trying to make the journey a little easier on the pockets for you.

B.Needam's Vision Works-New Film Treatment Ideas

I like to consider myself a jack of all trades when it comes to the entertainment industry, because I love everything about the arts, as well as am an ever evolving, knowledge acquiring student of the entertainment industry. One of my biggest hidden passions comes in the form of writing film treatments and creating great ideas. My new three as of lately are "Inspiration 302", "The Price of Love", and " The Beat Business-Reality Show". All are currently in development, being registered with the Writers Guild of America West and East, and processed as we speak for copyrighting, and trademarking under the B. Needam's Vision Works brand. Here is just a brief taste of what I plan to bring to the table and land production deals for throughout 2012.

Here is the Story Logline for "Inspiration 302" and Main Characters Story:

" WILMINGTON, DE- The cornerstone of the first state. It is center of all banks and business operations, which fuels most of the economy of this country. Surrounding this small wonder are the graphic and vivid glimpses of two inter-twining yet conflicting lifestyles; suburban prosperity, and poverty-stricken projects. Both sides of the spectrum are within blocks of each other. Communities connected by hundreds of local highway that link the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Leaving Delaware as both the neutral ground for new hope, and an escape from the pressures of the big cities.

A ray of new hope, that as parents, they wish to gain through their child’s educations. An education their children can obtain from attending Benjamin Banneker High School of technology. A school where they will learn college preparatory academics, and the technical trade or career program geared for future success.

Success that TERRENCE VAUGHN, a newly hired teacher has to teach. RYAN CONGO, TERRON SWIFT, ISHMAEL WAHID, DOREYA BURGESS, and other students Vaughn will play a huge life influence to.

Terrence Vaugn-Main Character:

TERRENCE VAUGHN, in his early 30’s, is a tall brown skin, athletic built black man who works hard to overcome the effects of age by staying current with the times and trends.

He has spent some time as an adjunct teacher at his Alumni college of Morgan State University; Earning his Masters in Education, with a minor in Psychology. At this point in his life, he tends to be witty and intellectual; always carrying himself as humble, level headed and conservative.

Terrence Vaughn is so philosophical, spontaneous, and innovative to the approach of his teaching, that he seems almost “unreal”, in the classroom.

His life’s greatest dilemma comes into place when his best friend from college, EVAN DANIELS calls him unexpectedly about a job offering in a less popular, unfamiliar city of Wilmington, DE. He accepts the job information and opportunity, but is forced to leave everything he knew behind; a loving wife whom is enjoying the success of the business career in Baltimore, creating a messy divorce stage. The more dramatic pressures from the decision- a mother sick with Mesothelioma, the fate of the whole senior classes academic success, and a heart torn from falling into a love relationship with his superior boss, Banneker High School principal Rosalyn Brooks, and not letting her down, leads Terrence to a haunting spirit of depending on anti-depressants from his past to try to cope .

Shifting Gears, I have also been in the process of creating a great reality show geared around the true grind of music producers entitled, "The Beat Business" which is also in the works of being registered, copy written, and produced as I write this. Here is a brief of the show treatment for Beat Business:

Authors: Brandon “B.” Needam for B.Needam’s Vision Works. All Rights Reserved.

Genre: Industry Insider/ Reality Series

Title: “Beats Business”. The Beat Business, from behind the boards to the corporate boardroom.

Logline (short pitch): “Behind The Music” meets “Making The Band” with a splash of the “National Red Bull Beat Battle”. The lives of up and coming Hip-Hop and R&B producers are showcased. See this vast group of avid super-producer wannabes in their own studio settings, creating the next big industry hit, searching for major industry placement, and even scrambling up enough money to buy the equipment that can take their sound to the next level, and in some points, sacrificing just to survive in life. At key moments in their lives, the audience is polled upon the music within the show, and the producers use the audience feedback as a virtual “A&R” to help them with their lives best decisions.

Synopsis: “Beats Business” fills the void that true hip-hop music lovers everywhere experienced with the ending of Making The Band and Son Of A Gun, with emphasis around the true creators and foundation of any hit song we as fans grow to love-the producer. The fans act as virtual “A&R’s” to each producer, pulling in key elements of what the consumers and fans are demanding of them at the moment, in real time.

Get inside the lives of real rising producers who live in the some of the greatest cities across the Untied States, and even towns yet to be put on the map musically. Gain an in-depth look what makes them tick, inspires them musically, their industry success and failures, as well as compelling, and gripping life stories. See them juggling the demands of record executives and artist for the next big track, search for placement, allies, and deal with life and love loss. Watch their assertive demeanors in the audio studio and in the offices. Catch a rare glimpse of how rewarding and cut throat the music industry can be, song after song, that our hopeful producers create for some of the biggest names in the mainstream and underground urban music market to date. Gain industry insight on the dynamics of a production deal, how to negotiate placement and royalties on created works, and distribution deals, and all facets of a producer’s life, as music loving fans and fellow aspiring producers and artist. Relive the best parts of it all, recapping the previous episodes experiences with all the producers and serve as a key player in what their next major industry move should be via text, twitter and voting poll, with live post show feedback and response from all the cast.

And when you disagree wildly with one of our producer’s tracks or decision…let them know! The audience will be instructed to vote on a key moment of the producer’s life in that episode. Should they take the skeptical offer on the table because it is the only one at the time? Take the upfront money for a beat because bills are due, or get all they are worth? After the audience votes with a phone call, text message, twitter post, and/or website poll, the producers will be pulled aside and given the feedback from the audience real-time. Watch how our hungry producers deal with the audience scrutiny. Then have the audience take to the website forums and post shows to discuss how it all played out.

All in all, I am excited to be going through the process of getting the legwork and registering of all the necessary paperwork so that my vision can truly become a visionary masterpiece with the potential to reach everyone's TV Screens.