MPA shuts down websites offering guitar tabs and lyrics.
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm

A website is already gone. mxtabs.net is the first victim. This is complete bullshit. it's so fucking ridiculous!! how is learning to play a song copyright infrigement?

Because the record companies aren't making enough money. Cough.

Is this guy serious? I'm this much closer to never buying another CD from a label affiliated with any of these organizations (MPA, RIAA) again.

This has got to be a joke. What if I own a songbook, but then show my friend how to play one of the songs I learned from that book? Am I a criminal? What if I figure out the song on my own? Am I urusping potential income by having a good ear? :head explodes:

I'm too young, but does anyone remember when cassette recorders became popular? Was there a similiar reaction from the industry?

yes and no. the biggest difference was that, when recordable cassettes became common and cheap, records were still selling well. therefore, people like me and my friends could record stuff all the time, and no one really cared. was it illegal? yup. but we did it anyway. in fact, it was common to go to the library, check out interesting records, take them home and record them (or just the tracks you wanted), then bring them back. it was cheap and it was easy.

but we still bought records and 45s. the industry was nervous about it (as was the movie industry when vhs came out), but except for legal notices on some records and at some libraries and occsional warning noises, nothing was ever really done to stop it (especially when every record system made in the 70s and 80s came with a cassette recorder/player installed).

and as for the subject at hand, i (as a music teacher) am waiting for a case to actually get to court. i have real doubts about the publishers and companies winning on the guitar tab issue. after all, there's a reason why most music plagarism lawsuits fail. nearly every modern song developed from a previously heard song, and on and on back as far as anyone wants to go. the same is true for harmony. and while melody is copywritable (as it is more or less unique to the song involved, altho not so unique as to often win lawsuits), harmony usually isn't because there are only so many chords in existance and so many patterns.

now, this has nothing to do with xeroxing music (an issue i professionally have to deal with), which is illegal as you are duplicating a specific piece of publishing. nor am i as sure about lyrics, because lyrics are still written words and thus are covered by copywrite protection as is any other published text. but guitar tabs are another case altogether. and while the publishers may claim that a specific pattern for a song is as protected as the melody, that is a pretty tenuous legal reach that i would love to see them try to make in court (what, are you going to copywrite specific walking bass lines now? boy, the bassist for sly and the family stone -- larry graham -- would be wealthy).

the publishers will of course push the envelope as far as they can until someone stops them. but i hope a site will have the backbone to be willing to face the potential jail time (yeah, like that's going to happen when the issue is this murky, unlike filesharing) and fight it in court. with all the publicity this is getting, i'd be willing to bet that the cost involved would rather easily be underwritten.

Finally the record companies are taking some action so they can keep holding onto their untold billions by stopping people from learning how to play their favorite songs on the guitar. This has been a thorn in the music industries side ever since people started picking up guitars.

I can't wait till they start charging people for listening to the cd's theyve already bought, that should be their next genius move.

of course, the recording industry's war on the internet likely wouldn't be happening if sales hadn't declined the last four years (first time that's ever happened) and they need to find an outside scapegoat. and after seeing what sound and not fury has hit the companies since the attack began, music publishers have decided they had little to lose by following suit. and if no one stands up to them, why not? but it doesn't mean the latter has a legal leg to stand on in regards to guitars. i'll believe it when i see it.

This is crap. Most tab sites are made from submissions of fans who have figured out how to play the stuff and tabbed it out themseleves - I download tons of tabs, and a great deal of them are innaccurate, and unprofessional, although very very helpful.

They are little more than 'versions' of song arrangments, and since they typically only include portions of lyrics, (and even if they included the whole lyric, it's absolutly idiotic to sue someone for posting them for free) its almost a non-issue.

I thought we'd moved beyond this.

With respect, Nique, since when did a thing being idiotic stop anyone from filing suit over it?

From here on in, everyone: Rambling/Blithering Alert!

One of the only things I see a move like this doing (and it has been mentioned that this whole argument appears to be a legal uncertainty) is punishing guitarists, not to mention the fans of groups and artists that the record company decided weren't lucrative enough to make songbooks for.

And if profit is the only thing driving the "official songbook" engine, eventually there'd be some painfully huge holes in what was available, no? For instance, I don't like the idea of learning the guitar without being able to find tabs for George Harrison songs from after the Beatles broke up; he's one of the best guitarists I've ever heard, but I doubt his solo work turns the same caliber of profit as, say, the latest from Franz Ferdinand (not to impugn them, I just needed an example.) In that case, would a tab for, say, "Soft-Hearted Hana" or "Wreck Of The Hesperus" be unavailable simply because, while there was some demand for them, they decided it wasn't enough compared to flogging whatever looked like it would sell biggest? So if I'm following my (probably twisted :p ) logic correctly to its conclusion, if the record companies had their way, the only thing you'd be authorized to buy was what they (relatively arbitrarily) decided would rake them in the most of your cash. And anyone who doesn't like that could just pick out the chords to their favorite songs themselves. Hang on, that describes every aspect of the music industry, not just tabs. I've just gone and stated the obvious again, haven't I? :o

Okay, I'm done now, you all go back to what you were doing.

Satan's Onion

Hehe, they want to take down ALL the websites? HAHAAHAHA!

Oh wait, their serious. Let me laugh harder.

The reason the music industry still frets over the loss of their income is because they still can't stop people from getting limewire and kazaa. Nor can they take such things down appariently, as they aren't responsible for the stuff as encased on the program's agreement in the first place.

This is their petty attempt at revenge, but it'll work the same way. They will fail. They WILL fail. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the internet is too dang large.

The poor rockstars!!! How will they feed their fat children now?!?!

First no tabs and lyrics. soon no fanfics, no comics and no chatting!