Free the Lyrics

According to the Wikipedia entry for mxtabs.net, the tab site has once again closed shop. On June 25, 2006 the tabs were taken down. Then on July 18, 2006 the index page at mxtabs.net simply displayed an open letter describing the situation. It starts off:

7 years ago, Mxtabs was started as a hobby by an aspiring drummer attempting to learn his favorite songs. Over the years, the tab site blossomed into a valuable resource for thousands of musicians. We’ve enjoyed hearing the success stories of thousands of guitar, bass, and drum players who have increased their skills and grown through their use of this website.

Unfortunately, it is now time to close the doors of Mxtabs.

mxtabs.net has returned with the tabs available, and an open letter has been written to the music industry, in which the webmaster at mxtabs asks for compromise to be made that will allow tab licensing. Read it here.

According to wikipedia, mxtabs went back online February 24, 2006.

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)

I previously posted about several tablature sites shutting down, and one tab site I mentioned was mxtabs.net. If you’ve checked lately, it’s either redirected to sputnikmusic.com, or at other times your browser might indicate you’re not able to resolve the domain.

Looks like mxtabs is down for the count.

Webmaster/admin Jeremy announced that mxtabs has been shut down, and MusicianForums is moving in new direction. Here’s what he had to say.

Many of you have visited sputnikmusic.com, the music review extension of MF, where every MF member can post. I’ve been working a lot on the site lately, adding new features, etc.

To jump to the conclusion: MusicianForums is going to be expanded, and become part of sputnikmusic.com.

Update: I just wanted to reiterate what I’ve said before. The MPA and NMPA have indicated they will be taking action in 2006 to shut down lyrics and tablature sites. Some tab sites took precautionary measures, and have already pulled their content.

It’s been reported that tablature sites have been taking down their content, because of the recent lyric site crackdown.

mxtabs.net - Site is down.
powertabs.net - Took down content.
taborama.com - Took down content.

Is there any official news reports about these sites? Not that I know of. Here’s what seems to be going on. As far as I know, none of these sites have been issued a cease-and-desist letter. They are acting as a precaution.

mxtabs.net
Some comments at MusicianForums.com talk about mxtabs.net webmaster Jeremy Ferwerda intentionally taking down the site, and how he is supposedly “fixing the whole possible lawsuit problem.”

powertabs.net
The site itself offers an explanation.

[December 17th, 2005] Due to the recent actions of the MPA (see here), we had to change the available content temporarily. More information will be posted soon. Sorry for any inconveniences this change may cause. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

The site now has a forum dedicated to MPA and the Future of Tablature Sites

taborama.com
The main page doesn’t have any information, but if you navigate to a tab or lyrics page, you’ll find the following message.

This tab or lyric has been removed over possible copyright infringement.
We are currently looking into methods to display this tab or lyric that abide by copyright laws.