Song Sites Face Legal Crackdown 537
CaptainPotato writes "According to the BBC, the Music Publishers' Association is stepping up to launch the next phase in the music industry's battle against online music. The MPA is demanding jail time for the maintainers of websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics. The MPA President has stated that closing websites and imposing fines is not enough, stating that by 'throw [ing]in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective' in its crusade." We just recently reported on the pearLyrics cease-and-desist order as well.
That makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
This does not make sense at all... (Score:4, Interesting)
Ask yourself:
1) are these people a risk for the society at large?
2) what are we supposed to accomplish by putting them in jail?
As to number one, the problem is more an etical issue - nobody dies, nobody get anything but possibly lower sales.
As to number two, US is already country with highest % og people in jail, yet in no other industrialized country are there as many people shooting each other with gun - if jailtime worked, why are these number not going down? It is like, send these harmless schoolboy to learn how to become hardcore criminals in jail.
Why not instead focus on rehabilitation? Set up a schedule where those caught are constraint in the area of the crime? What is worse, one year in prisson or one year without rights for using Internet?
Please stop sending people to hard core crime schools when not a danger to the society at large.
Re:This does not make sense at all... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This does not make sense at all... (Score:3, Informative)
Can we have a new mod category please? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:That makes sense (Score:5, Informative)
Re:That makes sense (Score:3, Interesting)
We now have a small chain retailer (it's 3 stores, all within a 3 hour drive, the closest being about 15 minutes from me.) They're great, and have a lot of the same
Re:That makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's a clue: No matter when "these days" are, the music has always sucked "these days". My great grandpa complained about Glenn Miller and Les Brown. My grandpa complained about Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. My dad complained about the Beatles and Jimmy Hendrix. I'm complaining about whatever that whiny noise is coming from kid's boomboxes these days.
Whatever music teenagers are listening to these days, one of the main reasons for its popularity is its ability to annoy adults.
Re:That makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Man..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep (Score:5, Insightful)
These guys never met a good business plan or marketing scheme they didn't want to sue out of existence. The only reason they've survived this long is that they've been the only game in town.
Artists are already discovering that they can afford home studios and to self-publish their songs online, which (as recent studies indicate) helps market the small-time bands. I'm thinking that within 10-20 years, the RIAA companies will either be defunct or will have gotten out of the business.
Indeed! (Score:5, Informative)
*not an actual award, but the buzz on them has been pretty stout
Re:Indeed! (Score:3, Insightful)
It won't be enough... (Score:2)
or will be healthy because of biased laws and active lobbying.
The only thing that could save them would be if it became illegal to publish and promote your own copyrighted music material online. And as much as I'm sure they'd like to have that happen, I can't imagine a majority in Congress coming up with a good enough excuse to do so.
Re:It won't be enough... (Score:4, Insightful)
It all has to to with what generations grow up with. My nephew is 9 - and to him the internet is AOL. His mom is a member, and to him, the web is a place to check his email, play games, and find out information about more games. He knows of this thing called google - you ask it a question, and it gives you answers, but he doesn't like it too much because he feels like it doesn't answer them "right" most of the time. He already has preferred channels for getting his information. X-Play on G4 shapes his gaming opinions ("dude, how can you like that game? it only got 2 out of 5 on x-play!") - and the internet isn't this wide open place for him - but an aggregation of things his already likes to do at places he trusts and knows.
What frustrates him about the internet: Maybe like two years ago, I was babysitting, and we were watching the Discovery channel on rare spiders. He was so interested that he wanted to find out more. I suggested the internet. At the time (lol) whenever he wanted to find something out, he rationalized that the answer would be at www.nameofthatthing.com - in this case www.spider.com. So he typed that in... and suffice it to say, what he got had little to do with spiders.
It was a goth porn site. The main page was some chick with her tits out, nothing more than he'd seen on national geographic, but it made him really mad for some reason. He was like, "spider.com should be about spiders!" All of which is to say, to him the internet isn't ordered the way it should be. And I don't think that sentiment is totally incorrect. I think that the media congloms are slowly moving towards ordering it that way.
I hypothesize that the internet will become more ordered - less transparent - and places like blogs and message boards will be some of the few places average citizens will get to post... and registrations will be scrutinized and traffic will be analyzed... and the status quo will normalize. In this reality, file trading abates because the critical mass audience will be conditioned to accept the status quo - which is the internet as a background datastream - a stream that provides the water coming from your faucet but a stream that you don't DRINK FROM directly. Drink from the faucet - not from the stream. Disagree? Look at AOL commercials with its propaganda. (The internet is a dangerous place. We PROTECT YOU and your children and your money and your life.)
Unfortunately, I think the RIAA has the right idea - scare the kids with fear of litigation - (my nephew wanted the Rock Lobster clip from Family guy - I downloaded the torrent - and we laughed about it for like two hours until my sister made us delete it because she didn't want to get sued - my nephew has now internalized that meme - downloads are like shoplifting to him - which is to say wrong).
Don't get me wrong, I in no way support this. This is what I think is happening though.
Re:It won't be enough... (Score:5, Funny)
It was a goth porn site. The main page was some chick with her tits out, nothing more than he'd seen on national geographic, but it made him really mad for some reason.
It made me mad to. It is now some business. No goth tits. Thanks for nothing dirtbag.
Re:It won't be enough... (Score:5, Insightful)
When (if?) this happens, in order for ANY device to play media, the media itself will have to be digitally "protected" with a key the device is capable of verifying. Independent artists will be virtually locked out from producing and distributing media themselves (to any kind of mass audience) and will be required to go through those holding the keys. Who will that be? The big boys: MPAA & RIAA members, etc.
Frankly, this is the only rational reason for the sound and fury these organizations produce in regards to piracy. The amount of money they claim they lose to piracy is a fictional number. They made it up. There is no true way to know how much they are losing due to piracy and there are contra-indicative numbers showing it leads to more sales, not less. But whether they really lose money to piracy or not is beside the point.
They will lose everything when they lose control of the media distribution channel. And that, folks, is the real reason for all the lobbying efforts. It ain't about losing some money today. It's about losing all of it tomorrow.
But you all knew that already, didn't you?
Re:Man..... (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, the Recording Industry A**holes of America have struck gold this time! Do you have any idea how many times I have grown to hate a perfectly good song because some tone deaf moron could just look up the lyrics and try to imitate Brittney Spears? I can't tell you how much it grates my nerves to hear the greatest songs of our generation being brutalized by people just because they know the words!
Now, the RIAA can kee
Re:Man..... (Score:3, Insightful)
The sheet music association is even more obsolete than RIAA -- they are a legacy of the era when entertainment consisted of a piano or guitar in the living room.
What they are probably hoping for is to make a deal with iTunes where they get $0.005 cent for each song for bundling the lyrics.
Re:Man..... (Score:3, Funny)
All new releases are simply "BEEEEEP" for 74 minutes, censoring the lyrics and music so nobody can copy the artist's, er, record company's intellectual property in any way, shape or form.
I will note... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sheet music, I can understand. But lyrics? What the hell? There are only two reasons to look up lyrics online:
1) Curiosity about that "one line" you've never been able to understand
2) Finding a certain song's name
Neither will impact business, period. In fact, both promote the song, which very likely promotes the buying of sheet music.
This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've seen in relation to the copyright wars. It's the clearest example yet of companies suing "because they can" and because of a complete lack of business sense, rather than because it's in the public (or even their) interest to do so.
No one, and I mean no one, is going to shell out cash to buy lyrics. A manufacturer might as well sue customers for saying good things about their product in an online forum.
Re:I will note... (Score:3, Insightful)
For sheet music, I wonder what percentage of the studio's customer base actually gives a damn about them. Almost everyone may have an interest in music, 10% of people may have an interest in lyrics beyond finding a song or clarifying parts of them but sheet music? Probably well under 1%.
W
Re:I will note... (Score:4, Insightful)
- Watered down - harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexities edited out
- Over-complicated - usually the result of a sheet music transcriber pounding the sharp, angular irregularities of the music as the performer(s) wrote it into the smooth, round hole of what-they-teach-you-in-school
- Little to no attention to elements of the music that cannot be put into grand staff (dots-and-sticks) notation, such as picking style, relative mix loudness for each instrument, effect chaining, et. al.
- Little to no attention to drums
- Changed key from the original
I could really care less about the sheet music, and so would anyone with a reasonable amount of musical skill.However, prosecuting sites that host lyrics is absolute senselessness. Next, I assume, they're going to start going after every band, amateur or not, who does cover songs. "Damn those song-stealing bastards!" says the RIAA. "They're robbing us blind! Put down your hundred-dollar-bill-wrapped-cigar, Phil, and get the litigators on the phone! Tell them not to believe the rhetoric about how cover songs make the music more popular, it's stealing! We're being victimized!"
I suppose it's going to be illegal very soon for us to sing along to the lyrics in our cars, and the RIAA is going to lobby for the addition of a microphone and a credit card reader to every car stereo system so that they can detect those horrible sing-alongers that *gasp* actually enjoy listening to music and charge them money for each word of a song that they sing. So, the usual
Re:I will note... (Score:3, Insightful)
There are countless songs on the web that have guitar/bass/drum tablature (sheet-music-like transcriptions of songs... but only show tuning and fingering, no time signatures, generally). For at least as long as I've been playing guitar (around 10 years), I've been scouring the web to learn how to play certain songs. Sure, there are books you can buy which show you how to play "Clapton's Greatest Hits." but the fucken book costs upwards of $20, and I don't want to (but I did) pa
Re:I will note... (Score:5, Informative)
Aren't they already doing this; except the venue pays the royalties for the songs?
Re:I will note... (Score:3, Insightful)
but they will visit the free, official site of the MPA (am I the only one who's never heard of this group?) and generate ad revenue for them, instead of some schmo listening to the songs and typing up what they think the lyrics are.
that is, of course assuming that the MPA would cowboy up and fill the void after they shut everybody els
Re:Man..... (Score:5, Funny)
My highschool made me BRAKE THE LAW!
I guess they didn't realize what was at steak..
Karaoke and licensing (Score:3, Interesting)
As a musician... (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck you, music industry.
Re:As a musician... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:As a musician... (Score:5, Insightful)
In the Middle Ages the Church controlled all writing. Easy to do, they had all the scribes. Thne the printing press changed the world. In reponse, the Church threatened to excommunicate anyone in pocession of an unauthorized press. The more things change, the more they don't..
One question: (Score:4, Funny)
Anyone?
Bueller?
Didn't think so.
Re:One question: (Score:2)
Having said that, I don't think lyrics are usefull WITHOUT the song itself. So if I download lyrics it means I've already bought this song. And there is no way I'm going to buy lyrics separately.
Re:One question: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One question: (Score:2)
Re:One question: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One question: (Score:2)
Re:One question: (Score:2)
I'm talking about laying out four or five bucks (or whatever sheet music costs these days) solely in order to obtain the lyrics for a song.
While I've certainly enjoyed getting lyrics I didn't know as serendipitous acquisitions after obtaining songbooks and such, I'd certainly never bother buying sheet music for the sole purpose of getting the words.
Re:One question: (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly this move is going to enhance my enjoyment of music, and make me want to buy more.
Re:One question: (Score:3, Funny)
The level of remorse I am feeling cannot be described with words. Jail time isn't what I deserve, I should probably just be shot or forced into indentured servitude or slavery. That would put a stop to my larcenous behavior.
Maybe I listen to too much rap but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Maybe I listen to too much rap but... (Score:5, Funny)
Lawsuits ad nauseum (Score:4, Funny)
Reminds me of that South Park episode, "Now Britney wont be able to buy her third caribbean island, all because of you evil children and your selfish downloading of music!"
I am absolutely certain there is a special ring of hell reserved for these RIAA goons and their SCO-like tactics.
Re:Lawsuits ad nauseum (Score:5, Funny)
It spins them right round, baby, right round, like a record, baby, right round, round, round.
Aaaahhhhh! Illegal lyrics, Slashdot is doomed!
Re:Lawsuits ad nauseum (Score:5, Funny)
I hope so, because if they get their way then that will be the only way future listeners of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" will have of finding out whether Bealzebub really does have a devil for a sideboard...
Level 4 (Score:2)
Oh sure it's no big deal to you. (Score:3, Funny)
That's stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Will this pertain to TAB sites too? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Will this pertain to TAB sites too? (Score:5, Informative)
So if you ever get a tab sheet were you get the first word of a line and a sequence of dots instead of the lyrics, now you know why.
Re:Will this pertain to TAB sites too? (Score:3, Interesting)
Can blue men sing the whites? (Score:3, Informative)
There used to be a fantastic web site about the Bonzo Dog Band. It had an annotated copy of the lyrics, explaining all the 60s pop culture references and in-jokes.
Some wankers from EMI threatened copyright litigation, and the entire thing was yanked. Even though the information was not available from EMI.
Call Oberlin! (Score:2, Insightful)
hmm.. (Score:2, Funny)
Lyrics needed for Beach Boys "Goodbye Raisins" (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Lyrics needed for Beach Boys "Goodbye Raisins" (Score:2)
"Slow Motion Walter, the fire engine guy."
Ah here it is: http://www.amiright.com/misheard/artist/deeppurpl
Re:Lyrics needed for Beach Boys "Goodbye Raisins" (Score:3, Informative)
Check it out. I think I saw the link here before, in fact. It is a great site, if a little difficult to navigate.
This site (obviously, perhaps) falls under fair use, but I wonder if the RIAA will put this on its list. I mean, the site has money generating ads and unlicensed excerpts of the real lyrics. I am sure the RIAA will ignore that 1) the bandwidth, hosting, et al needs to be paid for and 2) the RIAA is receiving FREE promotion of its wares.
How about this: lyrics sites respo
There wouldn't e a problem if.... (Score:2)
Damn it that's not good enough (Score:5, Funny)
Why didn't he just come out and say what he really wanted to say:
"Just prison time! That's not enough! These low life scum deserve nothing more than to be stoned to death (women aren't allowed to partake in the stoning, of course). They have stolen food from the mouths of hungry little children and strangled kittens. Well they would strangle kittens if they could. There probably terrorists as well you know!"
Will common sense ever return to the world? I think not with people like this running things.
Re:Damn it that's not good enough (Score:2)
Re:Damn it that's not good enough (Score:4, Insightful)
There was all kinds of mean, nasty and ugly-lookin' people on the bench there --there was mother rapers--father-stabbers, father-rapers! FATHER-RAPERS sittin' right there on the bench next to me!
And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible and crime fightin' guys were sittin' there on the bench, and the meaniest, ugliest, nastiest one--the meanest father-raper of them all--was comin' over to me.
And he was mean and nasty and horrible and all kinds of things, and he sat down next to me. He said, "Kid, what'd you get?"
I said, "I didn't get nothin'. I had to pay fifty dollars and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested FOR, kid?" and I said, "Litterin'."
And they all moved away from me on the bench there, with the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean, nasty things, till I said, "And creatin' a nuisance."
And they all came back, shook my hand and we had a great time on the bench talkin' about crime, mother-stabbin', father-rapin', --all kinds of groovy things that we was talkin' about on the bench, and everything was fine.
Courtesy of this page [sims.net]. I wonder if it's illegal?
$0.02 (Score:5, Insightful)
but I've bought a ton of cd's by listening to a song on the radio, writing down a random verse, and later googling that phrase to get to one of those cheesy lyric pages. I then can see what the song is, and what artist is making it.
Shut that down and you're gonna lose my sales.
jail time? (Score:5, Insightful)
However, jail time? That, to me at least, implies that society has been harmed in some measurable and somewhat significant way. Music lyrics? Is this after multiple warning to cease and desist?
Are they profiting off of this?
Obviously, I'm thinking outload here. But the main point is that jailing people is not something we should be deciding willy-nilly based on people from an industry that feels threatened.
It's one thing for them to want the state to help them in regards to illegal activity that affects their business. This is quite another.
This post is the end of Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Is this the real life- Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I'm just a poor boy,i need no sympathy-
Because I'm easy come,easy go,
A little high,little low,
Anyway the wind blows,doesn't really matter to me,
To me
Mama,just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger,now he's dead,
Mama,life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away-
Mama ooo,
Didn't mean to make you cry-
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow-
Carry on,carry on,as if nothing really matters-
Too late,my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine-
Body's aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody-I've got to go-
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth-
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all-
I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the fandango-
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me-
Galileo,galileo,
Galileo galileo
Galileo figaro-magnifico-
But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
He's just a poor boy from a poor family-
Spare him his life from this monstrosity-
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let him go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me-
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-
Oh baby-can't do this to me baby-
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here-
Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters-,nothing really matters to me,
Any way the wind blows....
Off with their heads! (Score:2)
Make Room (Score:5, Funny)
The MPA is demanding jail time for the maintainers of websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics.
Time to let all the copyright honoring murderers out of jail to make room. After all, the people they killed probably illegally downloaded music!
Society knows who the "real criminals" are.
too much greed kills the money source... (Score:2)
But seriously, would you spend hours to find/print the one from the web, or buy a nice book withotu any mistake, and a nice layout?
I don't remeber having heard anyone publish a study about declining publish lyrics sales...
They're just over greedy. As somebody else said, most people who look up lyrics online end up BUYING the damned record.
And is there ANY legal site where you could purchase and downlaod lyrics and tabs
Don't Sue my Brain (Score:3, Funny)
This reminds me (Score:3, Funny)
"Remember, you shouldn't wistle the tunes you hear on the radio because it breaks the author's copyright. Wistling is killing the music industry!"
Why is this illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why is this illegal? (Score:2, Insightful)
Exactly.. It's not illegal, or should not be. Copying something verbatim from sheet music may be illegal, but writing your own interpretation of the music for a song should not be.
more betrayal (Score:5, Interesting)
Jail time for unlicensed publishing of lyrics? I don't know how many times I've gone looking for lyrics to songs and the only place I can find anything is some web site where a fan has taken the time to put lyrics together. Maybe that's changed some and now that the music industry see dollar signs you really can go "buy" this stuff -- is it my responsibility to monitor and find this stuff (which, btw should have been available a long time ago)?
The music industry has betrayed the consumers since forever. Are they going to go after the publicly available and free CDDB? Probably. But even that didn't exist until the consuming public put together the first application to make this available on-line. And guess who provided the data? The friggin' public, again. And, now that the industry sees dollar signs, they want to claim ownership.
Scores? (Score:2, Interesting)
But WTF about "unlicensed song scores"? Does that mean that I can't publish on my blog what songs I like and hate?
Re:Scores? (Score:2, Informative)
Musical score != Rating.
Musical score == the actual music source code.
Re:Scores? (Score:2)
If not, here's the relevant OED entry:
6. Mus. A written or printed piece of concerted music, in which all the vocal and instrumental parts are noted on a series of staves one under the other.
Commonly stated to be so called from the practice (not now always followed) of connecting the related staves by 'scores' or lines continuing the bars.
b. A musical composition with its distribution of parts.
If only the MPA would think this through (Score:2)
Point is, all those your guitar wannabees out there who are given access to the sheet music will want to purchase the associated CD's to help them learn to play it. THE SHEET MUSIC SELLS THE CD!!
Even today, I'm trying to learn a celtic folk piece called "The Wind the Shakes the Barley". I need to hear several examples of how that is played to get
Those of us that play by ear are next. (Score:5, Insightful)
OTHER DUDE: "Sweet, show me how it goes."
DUDE: "Um, I can't -- it's illegal. And don't tell anyone I figured it out myself. If anybody asks I bought the music."
In similar news, concertgoers will now be forbidden from watching the hands of musicians during the performance, lest they learn something about how a song is played without paying the proper royalties.
Re:Those of us that play by ear are next. (Score:2)
Illegal - Daft Punk 'Around The World' Lyrics (Score:5, Funny)
for(i=0;i<143;i++)
{
printf("Around the World\r\n");
}
Jolyon
Am I an illegal now?
Re:Illegal - Daft Punk 'Around The World' Lyrics (Score:3, Funny)
Jolyon
So how about self-written guitar tabs? (Score:2)
WTF? (Score:2)
Perhaps they're jealous of all the annoying pop-up (redundant, I know...) ads that places like AZlyrics can have. Honestly, I'm LESS likely to buy a song that I can't find the lyrics to (assuming that I heard the song on the radio and didn't catch all the lyrics).
Thiefing Bastards (Score:2)
Deprieving artists of a living my arse. I'd like to see them try find an artist who makes a living from selling lyrics!
Surely any real "artist" would prefer people actually understood the lyrics they were singing rather than deprive all their fans for that one in a million customer who is crazy enough to actually buy a songbook purely for the lyrics.
I'm simply disgusted at the pure greed of music pub
Tabs are just laborious interpretations (Score:2)
The only times... (Score:5, Insightful)
In the first instance, there's no more money to be made from me as I have already spent money - and I would refuse to pay to use a site that provides lyrics. Indeed, it would also discourage me from buying more music in the future from companies that endorse this approach.
In the second instance, there's also no money to be made from me as I won't be able to find the song by using its lyrics. Lose-lose for the music industry, it seems. To top it off, with this type of attitude, I'm also far less likely to purchase anything from companies pursuing this type of strategy.
That's why I stick with Internet radio and music from individuals, groups and companies that respect their fans, rather than trying to milk them for all that they are worth.
I'm not a musician, so I don't download tabs. Shutting down tab sites also seems pointless as any half-decent musician can pick up a song by listening to it. Every musician I know does it this way. Does this mean that the music industry wants to also jail musicians who learn by listening, rather than by buying officially sanctioned tabs and scores?
Silly me, I forget that all the great musicians learnt from the officially sanctioned sources, rather than listening and imitating their heroes... and that anybody who disagrees with what the music industry wants must be a pirate and thief.
Is this REALLY illegal? (Score:3, Interesting)
1) Someone takes the lyrics/score as written in a book/CD case, copies it and publishes it on a web page.
2) Someone listens to a song several times, transposes the lyrics/score as they hear it and transposes it on a web page.
Now 1) is a clear breach of copyright (and should be settled in a civil court as such) but 2)...I cant help but think of that as a derivitive work and as such NOT in breach of copyright.
I dont know though - could someone enlighten me please?
Re:Is this REALLY illegal? (Score:3, Informative)
Nope! That's a common misunderstanding, but actually derivitive works are still copyright of the original copyright holder; there's not really a difference between your two examples, for this purpose.
Derivitives do add one complication, which is that the changes
Wow.... (Score:2)
Did you know they have internet sites with lyrics to songs that we own that they can download for free?
Oh no, now John Doe can download it and sing it without having to buy the song!!!! It's like stealing, we should sue them!!!
No, I've got a better idea, let's throw them in jail!
I mean seriously, I can see their argument that downloading an exact copy of a song can hurt their sales (though I think sueing grannies, c
How does a civil statute = jail time? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think we should throw in some bricks... (Score:3)
Please tell me what the fuck is wrong with having the lyrics posted so that people can find the words when they try to quote them...oh dear. It's not like people are using the lyrics to perform the song, and if so, then they'd get nail by the performance rights collectors.
All we want is to be able to find the lyrics essentially to educate us, and that should be in fair use. And were the MPA to provide such themselves that'd be cool.
But !@#$% them...I am so sick of this crap. It's gone way beyond sanity.
Why the outrage? (Score:3, Insightful)
But...
Music lyrics are copyrighted material...
And the agents of the MPA are presumabley, agents of the songwriters. And they are requesting that their works be taken down.
So why the outrage? Are you suggesting that you have some right to the songwriter's works against their wishes?
My solution to this issue is to let the MPA get what they want. Hopefully smarter artists will, in the future, fill the void this creates.
Fair Use anyone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't they know that many of their artists learned how to play music in much the same way, by hearing a song and effectively reverse engineering it? Elvis Costello didn't learn to read and write music until the mid 90s, nearly 20 years after his first album was released.Let them waste their money on lawyers "protecting" their "IP". It's just so amazing that these people are so devoted to making sure their copyrights are never infringed that they're going to dig themselves a grave. I, for one, can't wait.
Copyright reform (Score:3, Interesting)
Dumb and Dumber (Score:3, Insightful)
Now the stupid RIAA wants to end this. How this is going to help them is beyond me. Do they really think (as they apparently think regarding iPod hardware) that there's money to be extracted from these web-sites? Most seem to be a labor of love with likely little extra money to give to the greedy bastards. And I doubt that if you license the lyrics, that they will give them too you in machine-readable form. How many of these are captured and typed in by contributiors? Dumb all around.
Coming soon, how long before huming a song in public gets you jail time?
And is the MPAA suing the IMDB yet for giving movie plot summaries?
I dont get it... (Score:3, Insightful)
MPA Preparing to Launch Pay Lyrics Service? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the only explanation I can think of. The RIAA wants to eliminate free/pirated downloads becuase it cuts into their album sales, or their pay-download site profits. The MPA wants to eliminate free guitar tabs so they can charge instrumentalists for sheet music. IN both cases, there is a for-profit, legal market for those goods. MPA members cannot currently profit in any way from the desire of music fans to know or look up lyrics. So why shut down lyrics sites unless they're planning to find a way to make it profitable for them...
Two words (Score:2, Interesting)
I am so sick of that excuse.
This has never been about the artists, who are making increased profits with p2p file sharing, etc.
This is about a few mega-corps who have had a cartel lock on the marketplace, and haven't had to develop any business sense at all.
Songwriters are primarily song performers, and they make most of their money in tours.
Re:My question is... (Score:2)
Re:My question is... (Score:2)