http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics News and opinions about the lyric/tab site crackdown Mon, 14 Aug 2006 02:43:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I just read over at Fark that the Online Guitar Archive shut down again. As I wrote in my long history of cracking down, OLGA has been shut down twice before in the 90s. According to wikipedia, the latest shut down occurred on July 27, 2006 after receiving a take down ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/08/14/olga-shuts-down-again/ 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 ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/07/23/mxtabs-down-again-june-2006/ "U.S. digital entertainment company Gracenote on Thursday said it obtained licenses to distribute lyrics as music publishers mulled legal action against Web sites that provide them without authorization." read more | digg story Even though Gracenote has a deal to distribute lyrics with digital music, the article doesn't get into too many ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/07/17/lyrics-sites-next-targets-for-content-groups/ The popular tab site mysongbook.com (the best resource for Guitar Pro tabs) can no longer distribute tabs. Here's the drawn out explanation from the MPA. Remember kids, looking at guitar tabs is like stealing a guitar from a music store. read more | digg story This happened at least a ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/06/08/tab-site-mysongbookcom-crippled-by-mpa/ "Never heard of SIRA? That's the way Big Copyright and their lackeys want it, and it's bad news for you. Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy." read more ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/06/06/the-worst-bill-youve-never-heard-about/ I just read an article published at Slyck by Nick Parker on January 12, 2006: Filesharing: The Facts and the Myths. If I had found it months ago, I could have joined in the conversation in their forums. But as it is, that thread was locked, so I'll respond here. It's ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/04/23/copyright-infringement-is-a-criminal-offense/ In March 2006, the MPA issued a statement in which they explained their position on websites that distribute unauthorized sheet music and tablature. http://www.mpa.org/news/show/5 Several points are made in the statement. MPA members invest a significant amount into arranging, engraving, editing, marketing and distributing sheet music products, and illegal tablature cuts into their ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/04/15/mpa-releases-statement-at-their-site/ 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. http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/03/06/mxtabsnet-back-up/ Legal Fights Eyed Against Lyrics Web Sites The Music Publishers Association is set to begin sending out cease-and-desist letters in March to dozens of offending sites that failed to secure approval to use sheet music from the respective copyright holders, sources aid. The decision making process seems to be taking a long ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/03/06/mpas-proposed-crackdown-delayed-until-march/ Brent D. Payne, CEO/Founder of Lyric Vault, posted February 2, 2006 to a newsgroup in response to a question about how lyrics sites usually populate their databases. In his explanation he also talked about the lyrics sites crackdown, and reminded people that even though the MPA had made threats, no ... http://innovationlost.org/free-the-lyrics/2006/02/07/lyricvault/