D-13 Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 WTF? What next? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm The music industry is to extend its copyright war by taking legal action against websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics. The Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, will launch its first campaign against such sites in 2006. MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed. He said unlicensed guitar tabs and song scores were widely available on the internet but were "completely illegal". Mr Keiser said he did not just want to shut websites and impose fines, saying if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective". Bitter battles The move comes after several years of bitter legal battles against unauthorised services allowing users to download recordings for free. Publishing companies have taken action against websites in the past, but this will be the first co-ordinated legal campaign by the MPA. The MPA would target "very big sites that people would think are legitimate and very, very popular", Mr Keiser said. "The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income," he said. "But now the internet is taking more of a bite out of sheet music and printed music sales so we're taking a more proactive stance." Music publishers and songwriters will consider all tools under the law to stop this illegal behaviour David Israelite National Music Publishers' Association David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, added his concerns. "Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said. "Music publishers and songwriters will consider all tools under the law to stop this illegal behaviour." Sandro del Greco, who runs Tabhall.co.uk, said the issue was not serious enough to warrant jail time and sites like his were not necessarily depriving publishers of income. Learn "I play the drums mainly but I play the guitar as well. I run the website and I still buy the [tab] books," he said. "The tabs online aren't deadly accurate so if someone really wants to know it they'll buy the book. "But most of the bands I listen to don't have tab books to buy so if you get them online, that's the only way you can really learn it unless you work it out yourself." The campaign comes after lyric-finding software PearLyrics was forced off the internet by a leading music publishing company, Warner Chappell. 'No alternative' PearLyrics worked with Apple's iTunes, searching the internet to find lyrics for songs in a user's collection. "I just don't see why PearLyrics should infringe the copyright of Warner Chappell because all I'm doing is searching publicly-available websites," PearLyrics developer Walter Ritter said. "It would be different if they had an alternative service that also provided lyrics online and also integrated [with iTunes] like PearLyrics did. But they don't offer anything like that at all." A Warner Chappell statement said the company wanted to ensure songwriters were "fairly compensated for their works and that legitimate sites with accurate lyrics are not undermined by unlicensed sites". "We have requested that PearWorks provide us with information regarding the sources of their lyrics, and have further asked that they discontinue the service if these sources are operating without a licence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazzman Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 Do they even realize that they're hurting themselves by doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 I am no longer angry with these companies. They continue to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again, first with the extraneous price jumps for cds in the last decade, then recently with Sony/BMG adding viruses to cds, and now they are trying to limit being able to learn the music via tabs, which for the most part are written by fans, not by the companies. At the rate they are going, they are going to drive themselves out of business, and maybe the music industry will no longer be run by 5 main companies and start being run by actual musicians and bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenJennings Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 What next? Suing cover bands who play in bars? People who sing in the shower? One likes to believe in the freedom of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necromancer Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 QUOTE (KenJennings @ Dec 14 2005, 04:29 PM) What next? Suing cover bands who play in bars? People who sing in the shower? One likes to believe in the freedom of music. One LIKES to believe in it Ken, but unfortunately... thanks to Lars and other idiots like him, the big record companies will only keep getting richer and we will be forced to hear the music we love after buying overpriced cd's that have one or two good songs on them if we're lucky. I've always wondered when the day would come a cover band or especially a tribute band that makes a decent living performing one other band's catalog, would be stopped. It just seems like the next logical progression for these fat bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-0-0-1-0-0-1 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (D-13 @ Dec 14 2005, 03:28 PM) "The tabs online aren't deadly accurate so if someone really wants to know it they'll buy the book..." The official tab books aren't always accurate, either. The book for Vapor Trails is loaded with inaccuracies. They couldn't even get the opening chords to "Earthshine" right, and they're the easiest chords on the album to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustard Death Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (D-13 @ Dec 14 2005, 04:28 PM) He said unlicensed guitar tabs and song scores were widely available on the internet but were "completely illegal". What in the hell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tepes22b Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 The thing that bugs me is that it's so hard to get the tab books you really want. I would like access to tab books for all the Rush albums, not just some hits in the Guitar Anthology. A lot of those songs are the easiest to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-13 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (tepes22b @ Dec 14 2005, 08:16 PM) The thing that bugs me is that it's so hard to get the tab books you really want. I would like access to tab books for all the Rush albums, not just some hits in the Guitar Anthology. A lot of those songs are the easiest to figure out. sooo true I can't freaking find the Ultimate Heart book for guitar...might as well go find Nancy Wilson....she would probably be easier to find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-0-0-1-0-0-1 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (D-13 @ Dec 14 2005, 10:20 PM) QUOTE (tepes22b @ Dec 14 2005, 08:16 PM) The thing that bugs me is that it's so hard to get the tab books you really want. I would like access to tab books for all the Rush albums, not just some hits in the Guitar Anthology. A lot of those songs are the easiest to figure out. sooo true I can't freaking find the Ultimate Heart book for guitar...might as well go find Nancy Wilson....she would probably be easier to find! If you want accurate Heart tabs, finding Nancy might be the only way to get them. Most of the sheet music or tab books you buy are not written or transcribed by the artists themselves, but some schmo who doesn't realize there are actually guitar chords past the fifth fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisibleairwaves Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 How the f*** does looking up lyrics on the internet deprive a songwriter of income? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-0-0-1-0-0-1 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (invisibleairwaves @ Dec 14 2005, 10:36 PM) How the f*** does looking up lyrics on the internet deprive a songwriter of income? The music industry's argument is, if you want the privilege of reading an artist's lyrics, you should buy the CD or sheet music, as those lyrics are copyrighted material, and therefore shouldn't be taken for free. If I want to post the lyrics to Black Eyed Peas' "My Hump" on this board so as to make fun of them, I could either buy the CD and get them from the liner notes, or go to a website and grab them for free. Since those words are copyrighted (same as the music), and I'm using them for entertainment purposes (same as listening to the song), the holders of said copyright feel they should be compensated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagramking Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 I know a little about copyrighting. The record companies have let the lyrics, scores, and tabs be available on line for a long time. In order to preserve those things as protected items, they have to vigorously defend their copyrights. They have thus far failed to vigorously defend their copyrights, if they even legally exist in this fashion. There is so much easily accessible material on line now, and nary a cease and desist order for such activity issued on behalf of record companies. For this to have been protected domain, they would have had to vigorously defend from the get go. They have not done so. It would seem to me that this phenomenon has gone unchecked for way too long for them to have a real case. A real life example of this phenomenon is when Parker Brothers lost the exclusive rights to Monopoly. They waited way to long to start defending their trademark. As a result, they lost in court, and other companies can make similar games to Monopoly, without paying royalties. Another example is the Yellow Pages. Any business directory can be called the Yellow Pages now, because the original publisher of Yellow Pages failed to protect the name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuppetKing2112 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 What's next? Playing songs on the radio is free distribution of copyrighted material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagramking Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (PuppetKing2112 @ Dec 15 2005, 01:08 AM) What's next? Playing songs on the radio is free distribution of copyrighted material? No, record companies bribe the radio stations to play certain songs, but very little is done about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oberon Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Talk about f*cking money whores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagramking Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 The industry makes their money on live shows now. I think the CDs could end up being loss leaders for live performances when all is said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-13 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Time to print off as many tabs as possible. lol Your totally right though 1001....most tabs are not coorect at all! haha and so the mission to find Nancy Wilson...begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indica Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (anagramking @ Dec 15 2005, 01:49 AM) The industry makes their money on live shows now. I think the CDs could end up being loss leaders for live performances when all is said and done. It used to be the other way around. The live shows were to promote album sells, they made money selling albums but not so much on the live shows because tickets were like $7 for 3 bands. Now it's $70 for 3 bands and $20 for the CD $30 for the shirt, oh and you want a beer at the show? I hope you brought your CC. Someones making money, somewhere. There's more bitching than ever yet you know a lot of folks are getting rich off music somewhere down the line. Probably Clear Channel since they are taking over and controlling everything we see and hear. Big money got a heavy hand Big money take control Big money got a mean streak Big money got no soul... Everything we see and hear, everything. It's a violent pornography, the shit you see on your TV. Humans are so intelligent yet they let propaganda blind them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuppetKing2112 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 So true, Indy, so true... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-13 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 QUOTE (Indica @ Dec 15 2005, 08:45 AM) QUOTE (anagramking @ Dec 15 2005, 01:49 AM) The industry makes their money on live shows now. I think the CDs could end up being loss leaders for live performances when all is said and done. It used to be the other way around. The live shows were to promote album sells, they made money selling albums but not so much on the live shows because tickets were like $7 for 3 bands. Now it's $70 for 3 bands and $20 for the CD $30 for the shirt, oh and you want a beer at the show? I hope you brought your CC. Someones making money, somewhere. There's more bitching than ever yet you know a lot of folks are getting rich off music somewhere down the line. Probably Clear Channel since they are taking over and controlling everything we see and hear. Big money got a heavy hand Big money take control Big money got a mean streak Big money got no soul... Everything we see and hear, everything. It's a violent pornography, the shit you see on your TV. Humans are so intelligent yet they let propaganda blind them. ahhh how true it is. it's sad really. oh and I like the SOAD quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagramking Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Hey, someone once said that the words of the profits were written on the studio walls....concert halls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-13 Posted December 16, 2005 Author Share Posted December 16, 2005 In other music related news today, Metallica has taken legal action to copyright the entire key of E minor, due to the fact that 90% of their music is from said musical key. "We use it more, so why should any one else use it?" said Lars Ulrich. On why they didn't use it in their latest album "St. Anger", Lars replied "We were thinking about copyrighting E minor then, so why copyright-infringe ourselves in the future?" quote From fleshwound_NPG from the Heart-Music Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisibleairwaves Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Dec 15 2005, 12:18 AM) QUOTE (invisibleairwaves @ Dec 14 2005, 10:36 PM) How the f*** does looking up lyrics on the internet deprive a songwriter of income? The music industry's argument is, if you want the privilege of reading an artist's lyrics, you should buy the CD or sheet music, as those lyrics are copyrighted material, and therefore shouldn't be taken for free. If I want to post the lyrics to Black Eyed Peas' "My Hump" on this board so as to make fun of them, I could either buy the CD and get them from the liner notes, or go to a website and grab them for free. Since those words are copyrighted (same as the music), and I'm using them for entertainment purposes (same as listening to the song), the holders of said copyright feel they should be compensated. So are they assuming then that people buy CDs for the lyrics? Idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-13 Posted December 18, 2005 Author Share Posted December 18, 2005 Start downloading tab folks...they have started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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