Music Industry now targets website hosting unlicensed song scores and lyrics
December 9th, 2005 Leave a comment Visited 88 times, 3 so far today
Music Industry now targets website hosting unlicensed song scores and lyrics
This is now getting a bit out of logical explanation. The music industry in the United States is now extending its copyright war by taking legal action against websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics. The organization behind these steps is the Music Publishers’ Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies and they would be go offensive next year.
MPA president Lauren Keiser even went to the extent of saying that he would like to see the offending parties go to jail over what they are doing with the music industry. He told a media group that providing Guitar licks and song scores on the internet is completely illegal. The industry has been until now indulging a war against services and users, which are involved in digital piracy of the songs, and the latest step, adds to that.
MPA president Lauren Keiser said that they would be targeting very big sites that people would think are legitimate and very, very popular. He added: “The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income. 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.”
He was supported by the president of the National Music Publishers’ Association, David Israelite who added: “Unauthorized use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing. Music publishers and songwriters will consider all tools under the law to stop this illegal behavior.”
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December 20th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
More Music-Nazi stuff! It’s just another propanganda scare-tactic, like the ‘War On Drugs’, the ‘War on Terror’, the ‘War on P2P networking’, so they can take away more of your freedoms and rights!
They are not losing anything. When someone gets the lyrics and tabs off the web, it’s usually to learn the song so they can perform it. The venues they perform at pay for an ASCAP license, and ASCAP (in theory) pays the authors from that. So no one is losing anything. In actuality, BMI, ASCAP and most publishers simply take 75-90% of the money and use it for ‘overhead’, such as their limos, multi-million dollar office suites in New York, a team of high paid lawyers and lobbyists, etc… The rest is split up between the ‘darlings’ of the industry that they, themselves selected, not on the basis of thier talent, but by mundane criteria such as ‘who knows who’, and ‘who owes who a favor’, and ‘who’s Brother-In-Law is in the band’, and who are getting top-40 airplay on the Clear Channel media-monopoly that they also partially own and control. Basically, I am paying for their perks with my music! And through the corrupt political system in this country, they have it mandated by law! They have to kill the internet to preserve their power-base.
According to their reasoning, I should go to jail if I give someone a set of lyrics to a song, from memory. Or maybe even if I correct someone’s lyrics. I guess I should go to jail if I give guitar lessons, for teaching someone how to play a song. What’s next…the Thought Police? I’ll get arrested for remembering something I’ve heard without permission! Sheesh!
With the internet, we creators now have total control of our music. We can sell and distribute our creations to anyone, anywhere for a modest cash outlay on any one of the wonderful websites and outlets that have been created for us, free from the tyranical, racketeering practices of big publishers, record labels and radio-stations.
If we don’t start fighting back, we will have no rights left at all. All performers should threaten a total boycott by refusing to perform anything owned by the RIAA, MPA, and any publishers engaging in this behavior. Just do Indie music, and see how they like it! At least it will cut off a big portion of their Performance Royalties. For every ‘Super-Star’ they back, there are several hundred, or maybe thousands of us Independent Entertainers out there doing our thing. It’s time for us peasants to grab our torches and march to the castle and kill the monster!
I gig…,therefore I am…….
December 20th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
I absolutely agree with the previous comment – this has NOTHING to do with protecting the rights of musicians or of advancing music in society – this is all about profit taking. To sue your own customers is absurd enough, but to then try to shut down any interaction about the music they are trying to get people interested in is just self-defeating. I hope they go down in the flames they are creating for themselves, and indies take over the net.
December 31st, 2005 at 5:23 am
the tooth fairy ate satan.
December 31st, 2005 at 5:24 am
how does shutting down tab sites help you gain profit?
and lyrics too. Its not like people can’t just listen to the song to get lyrics