news.bbc.co.uk — "The music industry is to extend its copyright war by taking legal action against websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics... MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed. Guitar licks and song scores are widely available on the internet but are 'completely illegal', he told the BBC."
Dec 9, 2005 View in Crawl 4
phatmat123Dec 9, 2005
So...does this sorta mean that if one were to go online and find a song to learn and then perform in a bar as a cover-band...that they could be sued for performing that song in a public place?
Closed AccountDec 9, 2005
If you don't like our "stupid copyright laws", which are established in our Constitution, then I have a solution for you...move to China. Why are you Diggers all anti-American communists who think everything should be equally distributed?--<a class="user" href="http://www.robert.to/">http://www.robert.to/</a>
Closed AccountDec 9, 2005
Here is a breakdown of the Radiohead situation (which took place over a year ago). <a class="user" href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-06/05.shtml">http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-06/05.shtml</a>"In response, hundreds of Radiohead fans flooded their favorite discussion boards and Warner's email and voicemail boxes with cries of "unfair!", "executive pig!", and "f**king stoodent!" Although neither the band nor their record company, Capitol/EMI, commented publicly about the situation, bassist Colin Greenwood recently spoke out on UK radio in support of fansites like AtEaseWeb.com that provide listener-scribed lyrics and tabs, and promote the band and related interests for free.Moreover, Stanley Donwood, the artist behind Radiohead's album cover art commented to the press that "fansites do more for the band, record label, and the publishing company than is generally recognized." Maybe Pitchfork's publicist (wait, we do have a publicist, right???) could get in touch with a few of these artists who seem to have their heads screwed on properly. Perhaps, then, merciless label heads could learn a thing or two about kissing the ass that feeds them. (Love ya, Cosloy, baby!)On June 4th, after a few Internet news sites covered the story and Radiohead fans began to circulate an online petition promising to never patronize Warner Publishing again, the Warner/Chappel representative sent the following e-mail to fansite administrators (although he did not admit to being a major d**kh**d or nursing a major crack addiction, as many fans had speculated):"Radiohead's management have said that the situation regarding Warner Chappell has now been resolved. Warner Chappell will be issuing yearly free licenses from now on allowing all the fan websites to use lyrics as before. Letters will be going out detailing this in the next few days.""I guess it came down to fan reaction, and fan support by the band (Radiohead). It's obvious that these moves are being made without the bands consent. Why would a band care who has access to text versions of their lyrics? Unless they were really really bad or something. :p
diggbrianDec 9, 2005
Crap... Now I'll never know the words to "MMM Bop".
scorwitzDec 9, 2005
Once again proving my point that the more educated and focused you become in a particular business, the more narrow minded and idiotic are the things you do.
bumblebeeDec 9, 2005
The Internet: For commercial use only!Lawsuits are going to render the internet useless. Unless you're selling something, it's illegal to own a recreational site.
edmicmanDec 9, 2005
You tards, it's not the same people that are going after MP3 downloaders, etc. It's the group that looks after the interests of those who sell sheet music and the like.I can understand that part, ie, if you're downloading sheet music without paying, you're holding money out on the publishers who put out the sheet music. I can't say I've had much luck finding real sheet music online to download for free. But I've never really considered guitar tabs "sheet music", and this makes it sound like those will fall under it, too. What about MIDI files that you can print out the notes to?The whole lyrics thing is completely stupid. Who the hell "buys" lyrics?? 99% of the time it's where I hear something somewhere, jot down a snippet of the words, then punch them into google to find out what the song is. That leads me to look up the group some more, and if I like it, I'll get the music. It LEADS to purchases.
ursabearDec 9, 2005
"this is rediculous. f**k the music industry. they're a bunch of f**king scum bags. i bet the artists dont even care."Yes, the artists do care. Don't smear general populations of creative people because you don't like a corporation.
twodotohDec 10, 2005
Seriously, how much more Orwellian is this gonna get?
kasheyDec 12, 2005
Karaoke machines illegal by 2007!!!
Closed AccountDec 20, 2005
okay while i think its stupid for going after lyrics, because noone is going out and performing said songs for MONEY in any other venue than school, karaoke, or their damned shower. i did a little reserch because i really thought that they were making this crap up and that it was not illegal. after looking up the only word i thought aplied to the printed word.. here is the word i was looking up with the following findings after:(no i'm not calling anyone stupid, some things i didn't even know)this is the only thing i thought could posssibly apply: Plagiarism is a form of academic malpractice. It refers to the use of another's information, language, or writing, when done without proper acknowledgment of the original source. Plagiarism is not necessarily the same as copyright infringement, which occurs when one violates copyright law. Like most terms from the area of intellectual property, plagiarism is a concept of the modern age and not really applicable to medieval or ancient works.here is what i found after trying to prove that it wasn't truely illgeal.Copyright infringement (also known as piracy) is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term bootleg (derived from the use of the shank of a boot for the purposes of smuggling) is often used to describe illicitly copied material.In law, an exclusive right is the power or right to perform an action in relation to an object or other thing which others cannnot perform. The law may require that a person seek such rights through application, or it may automatically grant such rights.Exclusive rights may be granted in property law and intellectual property law as well as in relation to public utilities. Many scholars argue that such rights form the basis for the concepts of property and ownership.Intellectual property, or IP, refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property.Intellectual property laws are territorial such that the registration or enforcement of IP rights must be pursued separately in each jurisdiction of interest. However, these laws are becoming increasingly harmonised through the effects of international treaties such as the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time.so in conclusion they are within their rights to feel it is a violation of copyright infrinmgement.. no matter how stupid i think it is and how much i dearly wish they would stop nit-picking and shut up and leave us alone.cuz basically what that means (and i am going to use a book for my point) is while you could post online for example an "exerpt" from a book making very sure to include title and author of said book.you could not post a whole chapter and definitley not the WHOLE book. without proper permisson.. EXCLUDING aged property.. i.e. edgar allen poe, shakespear etc.. etc..so you could post lyrics to one song from one album.. but you could not post all the lyrics from all the albums from a single artist.. it is the same thing as if you typed out the entire harry potter book and posted it online. so in conclusin if you are still reading this and aren't screaming at me for being just as stupid as the bad guys are.... i think its f**king retarded that they are going to these lengths and i think they need to shut up.. however i must admit that within the definitions i found.. it is illegal.so yah i'm a pirate, and by the gods.. i will CONTINUE looking up lyrics online so that i may keep singing in my shower