Imagine, in place of copyright law, there was a law, saying that
1)for non-artistic work, no one has the right (even contractually) to ban either commercial or non-commercial free redistribution/copying
and
2) for artistic work, one has the right to ban only commercial redistribution/copying (free download sites that display ads would be in violation, but hobbyist free download sites would be legal).
In such a hypothetical world, where such a hypothetical law existed, what would happen? Would it harm creative work? Would it be positive for creative work? What would be the stance of large corporations? What about individuals/small creative teams?
SOPA/PIPA is only bad for the innocent. If it goes through, the pirates will just find a way around it. e.g. hosting in sweden or chain torrent pointer
and how would you define non-artistic and artistic work?
Quite arbitrarily I guess, just as the "fair use" clause in the usual copyright law situation - ultimately it is courts that judge such things.
So every one would have the right to copy non-artistic work?
Yes, this is the statement of this imaginary law. So, what do you think would happen in such a hypothetical world with such a hypothetical law? You appear to be negative to the idea; would it bring that imaginary world to chaos?
If you copy an MP3 file are you copying an non-artist collection of bytes?
No, it is artistic work. According to the imaginary law, you are free to copy and redistribute mp3, so long as you do not make money on it in any measurable way, including ads on your website that would offer free downloads. *
*Making money in measurable way: that is easier to detect than one would think: to make money you need to register firm and pay taxes. Escaping copyright law might be easy, but escaping *tax authorities* is a far more challenging task!