As the Stop Online Piracy Act Hits Capitol Hill, Five Artists Who Speak Out Against File Sharing

​Yesterday, we blogged about the ultra-famous musicians who support music piracy in the face of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), recently introduced to the House of Representatives, which aims to protect the copyright laws of music and other downloadable intellectual property. 

Websites such as Reddit, Tumblr, and Mozilla recently dubbed November 16 "Internet Censorship Day" to combat SOPA, claiming the act would lead to jail time for ordinary users and over-zealous internet service providers blocking websites of their choosing. 

It all has to do with the extreme measures the government is willing to take to protect the art of filmmakers, musicians and other artists (right?). Here are a few major artists who are willing to join that fight: 

Elton John 

In 2009, the "Rocket Man" spoke out against music piracy, stating "I am of the view that the unchecked proliferation of illegal downloading (even on a "non-commercial" basis) will have a seriously detrimental effect on musicians, and particularly young musicians and those composers who are not performing artists."

After major music players like Ed O'Brien of Radiohead and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, both members of the Featured Artists Coalition, accused the music industry of failing to adapt to the internet age, Lily Allen wrote a sternly worded blog called "It's Not Alright," which was subsequently taken down. Allen claimed that already rich artists don't care much about getting richer. It's also a heavy dose of irony, considering Allen rose to fame in 2006 after her song "Smile" was passed around the web. 

The Icelandic ethereal rock band took the guilt approach when they released this video, sponsored by Music Matters, a UK collective that aims to teach the public the importance of value of music -- both artistically and monetarily.

Ulrich was the original outspoken opponent of file sharing, way back in the Napster days. After Metallica filed a lawsuit against the company for racketeering and copyright infringement, the case was settled out of court. 300,000 users were banned from the service, and Ulrich has reminisced on the case since, saying, "We were just so stuck in our controlling ways of wanting to control everything that had to do with Metallica. So we were caught off-guard and we had a little bit of a rougher landing on that one than on other times than when we just blindly leaped. But you know, I'm still proud of the fact that we did leap . . . and I took a lot of hits and it was difficult."

The U2 frontman told USA Today in 2009 that "It's not the place for rich rock stars to ask for more money, but somebody should fight for fellow artists, because this is madness. Music has become tap water, a utility, where for me it's a sacred thing, so I'm a little offended."