Shut down online lyric sites!
p2p news / p2pnet: The MPA, not to be confused with the MPA, wants sites carrying song lyrics shut down ——- and it’d also be good if the authorities could, “throw in some jail time,” says its president, Lauren Keiser.
Quoted by the BBC, he said the Xerox machine used to be “the big usurper of our potential income,” but these days, “the internet is taking more of a bite out of sheet music and printed music sales so we’re taking a more proactive stance”.
Keiser said the MPA (Music Publishers’ Association, not the MPAA’s Motion Picture Association) would target “very big sites that people would think are legitimate and very, very popular”.
Guitar licks and song scores are widely available on the internet but are “completely illegal”, he told the BBC, which adds:
“The campaign comes after lyric-finding software PearLyrics was forced off the internet by a leading music publishing company, Warner Chappell. PearLyrics worked with Apple’s iTunes, searching the internet to find lyrics for songs in a user’s collection.
“I just don’t see why PearLyrics should infringe the copyright of Warner Chappell because all I’m doing is searching publicly-available websites,” the story has PearLyrics developer Walter Ritter saying. It would be different if they had an alternative service that also provided lyrics online and also integrated [with iTunes] like PearLyrics did. But they don’t offer anything like that at all.”
Also read:-
BBC - Song sites face legal crackdown, December 9, 2005
December 9th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
This is getting crazy. These corperations are nuts.
December 9th, 2005 at 2:27 pm
Recording industry companies are just dumb. Absolutely stupid. They haven’t a clue about marketing or business.
I use those sites to track down songs that I might want to buy. I would imagine many other people do the same.
I mean, how stupid do you have to be to not realize that having a tool out there that people can use to figure out what a song is so they can go buy it is a GOOD THING?
The entire music industry as it stands will be dead within 10-20 years. It will only take that long to die because of intertia.
December 9th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
So Lauren Keiser wants the MPA to jump on the sue ‘em all bandwagon does he? By shutting down online lyrics sites he thinks he is going to increase the amount of income the MPA already gets by a marked amount? Who the hell is he kidding?
So there I am listening to a song in my car, but there is a line I can’t quite make out. So what do I do? Look on the net of course to find the lyrics. Would I even consider shelling out for these lyrics if I couldn’t get the quick and free solution I was after? No way! I would do without. I am just a regular bloke enjoying a song and wanting to hum along with it. And I bet most people who are using these sites do so for very similar reasons. And now some greedy schmucks want to close down the sites that help us out. I wouldn’t even dream of paying anyone for lyrics, ever, so how does he come to reckon that the MPA is missing out on loads of revenue when a majority of people who use these sites do so for innocent and non-commercial purposes? What will they propose next? Charging me for singing a song?
I am getting so sick with this whole issue of copyright, of all kinds. The reality of life is that it is an outmoded and outdated concept. Those fighting to hang on to it are a small minority who stand to gain dramatically from it, and at out expense. Its about bloody time we had a revolution and sorted it out once and for all. Instead of paying people on-going royalties for creative product, why the hell can’t they just be paid a one off fee for what they create and have done with it?
The bottom line is that “most people” couldnt give a tinkers cuss about copyright, and when it comes to being representative of populations, there are more “most people” than the litigious minority. Vote them out I say!
Additionally I think all greedy lawyers should be nailed to a wall and then poked repeatedly with a pointed stick soaked in botulinum.
Oh, and by the way, if you feel like letting Keiser know how you feel about his opinion, you can email him direct, as according to the MPA website, his email is: laurenk@carlfischer.com
Greedy Bastards, always on the lookout for how they can keep us all under the boot and make a buck in the process……
December 9th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
I have a friend who used to be a record company exec. He told me that most of the heads of record companies are just plain idiots, with no knowledge of business and barely any about music. I guess I didn’t really realize what he was saying until now, and I think it applies to others involved in the industry, as well.
The only reason these guys have survived this long is because they’ve had a cartel stranglehold (tied to organized crime, no less) on the marketplace.
December 9th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
i use lyric sites and search programs because i often don’t understand the songs when i hear them.
also because many CDs - old and new - do not include the lyrics in the case insets, or the print is too damn small to read.
December 9th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
Have bloggers post a comment saying “I heard a song by 50 Cent called, from my stereo that said the following:”
“50 Cent, that’s my name
Man I ain’t fuckin’ playin’
I move on you wit’ that Mac mayn (Mac mayn)
Come off, now watch your chain
Fo’ I blow out your brains
Shells hit your chest go out your back mayn (back mayn)
See me I put in work, man I been doin’ dirt
For so long when niggas get laid out (laid out)Niggas run through my crib, to holla at the kid
That’s when I start bringin’ them thangs out (thangs out)
Then we go through the strip, hangin’ up out the whip
Dumpin’ clips off at they whole clique mayn (clique mayn)
When witnesses around, they know how we get down
So when the cops come they ain’t see shit mayn (shit mayn)
My soldiers slangin’ ‘caine, sunny, snow, in sleet or rain
Come through the hood and you can cop that (cop that)
I’m sittin’ on some change, G-Unit gots the game
Come through here stuntin’ you get popped at (popped at)
I love to pump crack, love to stay strapped
Love to squeeze gats but you don’t hear me though
I love to hit the block, I love my two Glocks
Love to bust shots but you don’t hear me though”
Then add a line or two about how shitty the song is and how it promotes violentce. Now, once the blog is posted, one can link it to a song comment search engine. Copyright law should be satisfied because it is a comment (guaranteed by the first amendment to the Constitution) and the work is attributed to the proper author. IF there are further persecutions, then people need to use methods outside of the court system to protect their rights.
December 9th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
This is why people in all countries across the world who are able to vote should vote for the minority party candidates as they are unlikely to be financed by the establishment cartels. Once the majority of voters realize that voting for the “lessor of two evils” is just plain stupid, the quicker people in various countries can regain their freedom.
December 9th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
The complete lyrics to a song may be subject to copyright, but surely
each individual line cannot be, if it were then the statement “I love you”
would be the cause of massive copyright infringement.
So one could simply construct a database of *lines* from songs and
distrubute this across the web, using a DHT or similar technology, in such
a way that the complete lyrics to a given song are not held in any one place.
It doesn’t seem that copyright in the traditional sense could apply to a
system like this - and if it was ruled that it actually does, then we could go
to words from songs, words from songs rot13′d, or xor’d with each other…
All manner of permutations come to mind.
With a suitable indexing system, it could be made impossible to determine
which song’s lyrics you are constructing when you ask for a particular
word or line from the system.
Copyright infringement will only occur when you construct the complete
lyrics to a copyrighted song from the individual lines or words… and that
can be done offline!
December 9th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
most artists’ websites include lyrics for all their songs.. This is getting bizarre…..
December 9th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
If we could all understand what the artists were saying, then we wouldn’t need to circulate their lyrics in the first place. We wouldn’t need to, BECAUSE THEY’RE ALREADY IN THE SONGS WE’RE LISTENING TO. *duh*!
December 9th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Idiots. If I cannot find lyrics online, I’ll probably write down the lyrics myself by carefully listening to a music track, but I am certainly not buying printed material from publishing companies.
Are they losing any money due to lyrics being available online? Hell NO!!! At least 99.9% of users downloading lyrics would probably not buy printed material anyway.
December 10th, 2005 at 12:10 am
This yoyo’s comments about shutting down lyric sites is just plumb greed and nothing else. Did it ever occur to this dunce that not only can one listen and write down the lyrics heard but they can also listen to the tune and figure out how it is played well enough to play it themselves, without help of any publisher group. Because of copyright, mostly those published and printed songs are always in weird keys instead of just printing the real chords and then telling you to either barr them or to use a capo to get the same effect. Because of this lack of printing the information they make it both harder than necessary and at the same time rip off the buyer by not supplying exactly what he was after. I’ve no sympathy for those greedy rascals.
December 10th, 2005 at 12:13 am
What ever happened to the sharing of knowledge? When did the contents of my head become the property of someone else?
Shall I avoid teaching my children Christmas Carols without the express permission of the copyright holders? If I figure out the chords to a song on my own, am I not allowed to play it without permission?
When did MY thoughts fall under the control of someone else?
December 10th, 2005 at 1:46 am
not all by ear transcription sites are illegal.
i am a paid member of http://www.countrytabs.com
which pays a flat fee to BMI and ASCAP for the legal use of by ear transcriptions
December 10th, 2005 at 3:38 am
I would pay for such a service if I didn’t think it was morally reprehensible to give money to those selfish money grabbing corporations.
December 10th, 2005 at 4:55 am
What was your first clue??????
December 10th, 2005 at 4:55 am
What was your first clue??????
December 10th, 2005 at 5:04 am
Dude This whole thing got Bizarre when the Riaa starting suing people who use P2P!!!!!!
December 10th, 2005 at 1:03 pm
So what, no more karaoke???
December 11th, 2005 at 9:05 pm
One of the things that I have found is that music publishers take songs from songwriters, allegedly to exploit the songs for the benefit of the songwriter.
This is the scenario: Peermusic, one of the biggest music publishers around claimed to own about 30 songs composed by my father. 14 of them were acquired “without the author suspecting”. I swear this is true, the document that proves this is found on our web site. As amatter of fact if it was not true, Peermusic would sue me for slander.
Not too long ago A local musician wrote to Peermusic, an MPA member, and asked for the scores of about a dozen songs that my father composed and Peermusic claimed to own, to make a recording, said the request.
Peermusic did not only not send the scores nor offered them for sale, but did not reply to the request letter. I asked Peermusic why the shoddy treatment to a well established musician? The reply: Peermusic does not provide scores for recordings. A great way to violate any songwriter song assignment contract and shafting the songwriters by making impossible any income from recordings.
The only real job of music publishers is to promote the music for the songwriter so they generate royalties. They don’t even do this right by publishing the music but they object when others do it? This is sensless.
The posting of song lyrics can only create a demand for songs and make them perform better in the market. The publishers are cutting their own, excuse me, the songwriter’s arms.
I would never object to anyone posting the lyrics to our songs. as some are, on the Internet or on song books or on CD booklets. It is free publicity. Stupidity has a limit.
BTW, music publishers call themselves publishers to make songwriters think that their music, when assigned to a publisher, will actually be published. The name os part of the “publishing” scam.
Rafael Venegas
GVL Inc.
http://www.gvenegas.com
December 11th, 2005 at 9:22 pm
This does’t jell:
Songwriters assign three types of rights:
Mechanical - for sound recordings, movies.
Publishing - for sales of printed (or otherwise) scores.
Performance - for radio, television, etc.
BMI and ASCAP are performance rights organizations which only license performance licenses on behalf of the copyright owners.
How did BMI and ASCAP get into the publishing business? I have never heard of anyone assigning publishing rights to a performance rights organization.
I run a real music publishing company. Most so called publishers do not publish at all. I dobt BMI and ASCAP has any publishing rights at all.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas
December 20th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
if anyone knows how to fight against these douchebags wanting to shut down tab sites hit me up on AIM @ “tg quagmire” I WANNA FIGHT THIS! I LOVE MY TAB SITES! THEY NEED TO STAY!!!