Oi, this is SERIOUSLY stupid.

[arckyosuke]

Sheet music/tablature sites face legal crackdown.

In short, sheet music/tablature sites in the United States beware -- the Music Publisher's Association might send lawsuits your way.

MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed

Comments

[ciri]

OMG! They're playing music! We must do something!!!

Some kid grabbing the tabs for Stairway to Heaven can't be hurting them that much. Geeeeeeez.

[arckyosuke]

OMG! They're playing music! We must do something!!!

QUICK CALL THE THOUGHT POLICE

I was really taken aback at the "put them in jail" bit. They want to jail kids for putting up music tabs that they interpreted themselves? Yes, that would so make society better~~~~

blowback?

[shinjixikari]

perhaps this will blowback on the industry as well, and they'll stop being idiots within 5 years... *snicker*

Re: blowback?

[arckyosuke]

Unlikely. This dispute has been going on for the last eight years at least -- however, I've never seen it this stepped-up before. i think the MPA has been emboldened by the RIAA's successful and high-profile legal actions against music downloaders, and are trying to ride on their coattails -- but of course, interpreting music and downloading it are NOT the same thing.

[iconoclastiac]

Geez!

Can the MPA actually do that? People freely quote from song lyrics all the time. It's not like the words are trademarked. A lot of songs don't even INCLUDE the official lyrics in the CD booklet. And unofficial guitar tabs or piano scores -- I've never heard it was a violation of copyright to make your OWN arrangements of the sheet music. Certainly musicians in the industry cover EACH OTHER's songs, and that's perfectly legal without them going crazy with citations/credits/royalties. Such bull5h1t.

"The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income"...it's obvious they're just greedy money mongers trying to wring what they can from the current legal climate.

[arckyosuke]

Oh, yes. I also like that quote. So, it would be a good thing if masked hoodlums marched into their offices and broke all the Xerox machines they had, right? I mean, that's getting rid of usurpers who had somehow infiltrated their very headquarters!

Related to what you said about official lyrcis is something I forgot to say -- if I wanted to make tabs of say, hard to get video game or anime songs, does that mean I need to go through the proper authorities first? Some songs don't even HAVE official transcriptions.

Greedy bastards.

[rem_chan]

Another step towards Brave New World...

[arckyosuke]

Yup. Hooray for corporate interests like wut.