Legal
Sad Steve, Inc. locates music files found all across the Internet and provides two methods for users to preview and download these files. Users can either search for music using their own search terms, or browse the "good music" section of the site to discover new artists and bands that are not yet mainstream. This dual approach to music ensures that fans can listen to their old favorites, and continue discovering new content. Additionally, bands that are lesser known will gain new fans and exposure after appearing in the "good music" section.
Although Sad Steve does not endorse illegal file sharing, we do believe it is legal to provide users with the ability to preview and download copyrighted music that resides on servers other than our own. We choose to give our users access to this copyrighted content because we have no way of knowing if a music file residing on an external server is being legally distributed by its host. In order to increase our pool of search results, we assume that all music content on the Internet can be legally distributed by its host and thus include it in our search results. It is the responsibility of the content owner to inform us when his or her content is illegally hosted on a specific website. When informed by the content owner of such a situation, we will remove the music file from our search results as soon as administratively possible.
Other search engines of all types handle indexing the same way; indexing by default all content, but allowing content owners to opt-out of having their content indexed if they so choose. Google, for instance, automatically indexes copyrighted content like news articles and photos, and only un-indexes it when told to by the content's owner. Although many newspapers were initially weary of Google's automatic indexing, newspapers now recognize Google as a search service that drives more users to their own end content. That is, with Google's help, a lot more people read the news online than they ever did without Google. As more and more Internet activity depends on search as a middleman between users and content, newspapers and record labels alike need to reject the notion that search engines illegally index copyrighted material and instead embrace search as a means to bring more exposure to content.
The first step to solving the woes of the music industry requires understanding how to use the Internet to safely promote music, especially within search engines. Sad Steve hopes to help the industry with this goal. Once accomplished, we hope to continue with other plans we have to help bring economic prosperity back to all people that help create music. Rock on!