UPDATE: This legislation was passed as part of the stimulus check package. Here is what comes next (post HERE).
Right now, #stopDMCA is trending, because streaming influencers believe that legislation being sponsored by North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis is going to land them in jail if they play a copyrighted song over their broadcast.
They or you, have nothing to worry about.
Being at the intersection of gaming and politics is an interesting place to be. Right now, Tillis’ legislation has no teeth. Here is why..
Any proposed legislation for increasing non violent felonies would die in the House of Representatives: The United States is at a place where we don’t want non violent offenders (especially for streaming music), in jail. His bill would probably fail in the senate too, which is controlled by his own party.
It won’t make it to Donald Trump in time. Do you think Joe Biden would sign it in his first year in office, when we just had AOC playing “Among Us” two months ago?
It would be impossible to enforce: If you live in Bumblee, Texas, the streaming police is not going to call the sheriff and ask him to pick you up for playing “Old Town Road” on your broadcast. The police don’t want this dumb proposal anymore than you do (FTR has another complete post on what a nightmare this legislation would be for law enforcement, the court system, artists, and streamers alike HERE).
The court system is also too flooded at the moment: You think a judge wants to hear about a streamer playing music, when he has thousands of other cases to hear? Your court system is overwhelmed. Your state attorney’s office is shorthanded and so is your public defender’s office as well.
The dialog on social media is also wrong: There are a lot of people that don’t know what they’re talking about running their mouths on social media right now. There is no reason to panic. This is publicity stunt legislation and it happens all of the time.
Let’s take a breath everyone. You shouldn’t be playing copyrighted on your streams anyways. But you’re not going to go to jail if you mess up. Relax.
What you should do:
Don’t call Thom Tillis’ office unless your from North Carolina. Why? Because unless you’re from North Carolina, he doesn’t work for you (more on calling your lawmakers HERE).
Call your own senators and members of the House Of Representatives and tell them to turn away this bad legislation.
And also read how streamers could tilt the power balance in Washington if they mobilized quickly enough (story HERE).