Free the Lyrics

Found another petition. keep lyric and tab sites on the web!

I’m not sure what will be done with the petition once it reaches its goal of 5,000. Will it be sent to someone?

I have to comment about something in the petition writer’s myspace rant.

if these laws go into effect, then they will have to jail people whistling songs on the sidewalk, cover bands, garage bands, karoke singers, etc. this is outrageous.

Ah, the old “what’s next” argument. Often comprised of hyperbole (”whistling”) and actuality. In this case, the actuality isn’t that cover bands and karaoke singers are being arrested, but that the venues (e.g. bars) can get in trouble for not paying the royalties on the music. I previously mentioned an article about a Washington, D.C. bar taken to court for not paying fees to ASCAP. Or how about a Fresno bar being sued for not licensing songs that BMI represents.

Tab-Archive.com and TABfly.com are still online however both considering what is the best course of action to take, they do not wish to close however will if they are forced too as they cannot afford to pay royalties for the tabs they offer.

read more | digg story

Here are some resources around the web where you can read opinions and discussions about the lyric/tab site crackdown, and also some related general information.

Articles:
Song sites face legal crackdown - The BBC News article that started it all
Labels Target Lyrics Sites
Publisher Apologizes To Online Lyrics Tool

Sites:
TabAid - A grassroots effort to organize gigs to protest the tab site crackdown
subject: music.organization - A non-profit organization that will be started to address tablature and copyright
LyricFind, Inc. - A service that will allow lyrics sites to license content
MPA - Music Publishers’ Association of the United States
NMPA - National Music Publishers’ Association
HFA - Harry Fox Agency

Forums - specific sections or topics:
MPA and the Future of Tablature Sites [forum.powertabs.net]
Selling iLyric.net [geekvillage.com]
Crackdown on lyrics sites, guitar tabs and song scores [geekvillage.com]

Forums - general:
forum.powertabs.net
taboramaforum.com
musicianforums.com
forum.musictalk.com
ultimate-guitar.com/forum
geekvillage.com/forums

Some search terms for Google News, digg, and technorati
Lauren Keiser [Google] [digg] [technorati]
lyrics sites [Google] [digg] [technorati]
MPA [Google] [digg] [technorati] (careful with this one, because MPA stands for other things)
tabs [Google] [digg] [technorati]
tablature [Google] [digg] [technorati]

Lyrics sites still up
azlyrics.com
lyrics.astraweb.com
lyrics.com (directory, links to other sites with lyrics)
sing365.com
lyricsfreak.com
lyricsworld.com
lyricsdownload.com
lyricsplanet.com
letssingit.com
lyricsstyle.com
seeklyrics.com
ilyric.net
lyricswiki.org
getlyrics.com

Tabs still up
ultimate-guitar.com
guitartabs.cc
g-tab.com

Tabs taken down
mxtabs.net (redirects to sputnikmusic.com)
taborama.com
powertabs.net (see also Power Tab Community FAQ)
dylanchords.com
lennonchords.com

I think Darryl covered a lot of information in the Q&A he did for mredkj.com, yet there are still a lot of unanswered questions. He has joined in on a discussion at webmaster forum geek/talk: Crackdown on lyrics sites, guitar tabs and song scores (look for user Darryl)

His posts shed some light on just how complicated it is to license lyrics for the web, and how it’s going to cause some limitations at first. If the MPA follows through on their promise to crackdown on lyrics sites, the ones that survive are going to need to reorganize how they operate - diversify, new revenue streams, etc. - in order to cover the costs of licensing the lyrics.

As for tab sites, it’s Darryl’s opinion that they won’t be given as many opportunities to license content, because they’re seen as competition to sheet music sales. There is a fundamental difference between the fan tabs community and the official sheet music business, so I hope the music industry doesn’t just dismiss tab sites as being unimportant.

Darryl Ballantyne is president of LyricFind, Inc., which specializes in lyric search services. Mr. Ballantyne agreed to answer some of my questions, and to help explain what’s going on with the lyric site crackdown from his perspective.

I put up the interview at mredkj.com.
Interview with Darryl Ballantyne

The wikipedia entry for Music Publishers’ Association of the United States (MPA) could use a little work. Currently it only says, “The Music Publishers’ Association of the United States is the arm of the music industy (sic) responsible for the production and distribution of sheet music.”

Here are a few rough ideas of what the MPA entry needs.

• Link the term “sheet music” by using the wiki notation [[sheet music]]
• Founded in 1895 (source) - Try to find out more about its history
• In the current entry, the phrasing “responsible” is a little misleading. The MPA doesn’t itself produce and distribute sheet music, but rather facilitates communication between the copyrights holders, the publishers that produce it, the businesses that distribute it, and the users of the material.
• The MPA initiates PR campaigns to make people aware of current copyright laws. For example, their COPY-FREE ZONE program was started to curb the photocopying of sheet music in the music departments in schools around the country. (source)

Shortly after I wrote about tabaid.tk, I found out the TabAid effort has shifted focus over to TabAid.com.

So, to summarize again, the idea is to coordinate a series of gigs by bands around the world under the “TabAid�? logo. The purpose is to oppose the MPA’s recent threats against tablature sites.

From their Concerts page:

Show your support for TabAid by attending one of the concerts. These concerts are being run by musicians who use tablature everyday to learn new music.

The folks at Taborama Forum have come up with an idea to coordinate a series of gigs by unsigned bands all around the world under the “TabAid” logo. The purpose is to oppose the MPA’s recent threats against tablature sites. Details of this initiative can be found at tabaid.tk

According to the site, TabAid concerts will be held February 14th to February 24th.

Shortly after the MPA announced its plans to take down tab sites, I found an online petition and wrote about it (December 20, 2005). Since then I’ve found a couple more, so here’s a roundup. People can leave comments in the first three, so you’ll find some thoughtful arguments, some not-so-thoughtful quips, and occasionally some guest book graffiti.

Musical Interpretation on the Internet
The petition was created by and written by James Booker. It’s addressed to the Music Publishers’ Association, but there isn’t any information about when or if the petition will be sent to the MPA.

TabPetition.com
This one is addressed to the Music Publishers’ Association, and since it says “What we are going to send the MPA”, I assume the MPA will be notified at some point.

save the tabs
The site says:

when enough people have signed we will contact the MPA and any other relevant organizations to show them your views, please sign and help SAVE THE TABS

Tab Aid
This one takes a name and email, and doesn’t mention anything about when or if the petition information will be sent to the MPA. (More information about TabAid)

I was looking at the wikipedia entry for Mxtabs, and was thinking it is seriously lacking in substance and accuracy. Since I only became familiar with mxtabs.net after it was taken down, I’ll have to leave it up to someone else to update the wikipedia page.

On the other hand, I may try to change just the parts dealing with the MPA crackdown. Here are some rough ideas based on comments I’ve made here numerous times.

1. In December 2005, the MPA threatened to take action in 2006 against lyrics and tablature sites.
2. Some tab sites such as Mxtabs decided to take down their content to avoid future legal problems.
3. (Include a link to the BBC article that revealed the MPA’s plans)