Slashdot Mirror
Music Should Be Heard But Not Understood
PaxTech writes "Warner/Chapell music has cease-and-desisted a small freeware developer who wrote a Mac OS X lyrics downoading application. pearLyrics in no way contributed to piracy or copyright infringement, it was merely a tool to search for lyrics on public websites and view or add them to mp3 metadata. This is part of a larger crackdown on websites distributing lyrics. Apparently, the labels would like to force us back to a world where Hendrix kisses guys."
Isn't this (linking/facilitating) the reason why Napster and friends got nipped? They are sort of helping illegal (as determined by whoever) activities to gain publicity.
While I enjoy freely available and searchable lyrics, I must admit 9 out of 10 times I regretted having looked up the lyrics, it kinda ruins my feeling once I understand every single word and can sing-a-long. Am I the only one having this kind of 'empty-yet-lyric-filled' feeling?
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
Bring on the rap?
If people don't want lyrics don't look them up. If you do, you don't need software. google.com > lyrics: "enter song here" > search
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Next up: no singing in the shower without a license.
Okay, I can kind of see the basis behind SOME of the recording industry's points (go ahead and mod me flamebait now) seeing as music is copyrighted property and whatnot. But aren't lyrics not copyrighted or are the hundreds of sites out there that give song lyrics away for free underground criminal enterprises?
In any case I think the recording industry is definately overstepping its bounds here and should probably focus on winning the first losing battle it got it self into (the fight vs. p2p file sharing) before trying to start another one.
$ man sig
bash: No manual entry found for sig.
are you sure about that?
always mosh clockwise
It seems that their tactics are already working. I'm already having trouble finding the lyrics for Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. If there are any underground sites still operating, please let me know. Thanks!
Do you like German cars?
So what's new? Companies send Cease and desist orders all the time, it's the easiest way to scare people into doing what they want. It's ridiclous but it's true, if you act like you're going to sue people they figure out if they can aford the law suit (win or lose) and more often than not they see they don't have the money so they're forced to stop.
It's like pointing a gun at someone, they "could" not get shot, but is it worth the risk when you could just give them your watch and be done with it?
I like muppets.
It must have been that "Thunder Chief" I keep hearing about...
SingPod
Sing that iTune
Also a question, does anyone have a mirror for the pearLyrics program?
(The RIAA are) Pretty Vacant (sung by an RIAA executive)
there's no point in asking
you'll get no reply
oh just remember a don't decide
i got no reason it's too all much
you'll always find us out to lunch
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty we're vacant
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty
a vacant
don'y ask us to attend
'cos we're not all there
oh don't pretend 'cos i don't care
i don't belive illusions
'cos too much is real
so stop you'r cheap comment
'cos we know what we feel
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty we're vacant
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty we're vacant
ah but now and we don't care
there's no piont in asking
you'll get no reply
oh just remember a don't decide
i got no reason it's all too much
you'll always find me out to lunch
we're out on lunch
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty we're vacant
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty we're vacant
oh we're so pretty
oh so pretty ah
but now and we don't care
we're pretty
a pretty vacant
we're pretty
a pretty vacant
we're pretty
a pretty vacant
we're pretty
a pretty vacant
and we don't care
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
"Apparently, the labels would like to force us back to a world where Hendrix kisses guys.""
Heaven forbid that should happen.
I can't wait to have to pay to understand the words to a song.
I always liked Manfred Mann's Earth Band's Blinded By the Light.
Those mysterious lyrics are:
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
This has to be the most truly misheard lyric ever.
Since I don't want to be on the whole defensive of the RIAA, here's a link to the RIAA Radar to balance things - boycott the RIAA!
oh please everyone knows the lyrics!
bum bum bum bummmm
BUM BUM BUM BUMMMM
...shutting down recent lyrics sites, that is. After the big fuss made over lyrics.ch, I was surprised to be able to consistently find the lyrics to songs I've heard on the radio by simply searching Google. Many times, the places I'd find lyrics hosted lyrics for thousands of songs. What took them so long in shutting down these massive sites?
I don't really understand it. Unlike mp3s, I can't see lyrics downloads doing anything but boosting sales. Nevertheless, posting lyrics violates copyright and it is within their rights to try to get these places shut down.
I was just reading about when the Beatles put out Sgt. Pepper and wanted to put the lyrics on the back of the sleeve. I'm of the (80's) generation where lyrics always come with the record, but apparently that wasn't something that happened at all back then - EMI were very reluctant to print the lyrics, thinking it would severely cut down on sheet music sales from which they would get a royalty. Anyway, remember in the (bad old) days, when people would compile lyrics on personal homepages? Now whenever I do a google search I get umpteen specialized lyric sites, often who don't even HAVE the lyrics (just the song listed with no real link) and way too much javascript.
I'm posting them here, risking life & limb:
Lalala-laa
Lalala-laa
lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala-
So when can Google expect a cease-and-desist letter?
Warner/Chapell music should get proper balls and go for someone bigger, this is just pathetic.
yeah lets make it harder for cover bands to cover songs let alone regular people from understanding the message. Yhat way we can just string random words together with a crappy 4/4 beat and a repetative melody and mass sell crap you our consumers coz they will buy anything if we advertise it 24/7....see Brittany spears
yet another way to control and destroy culture....folk music was the evolvement of other tunes and melodies with new words....you cant sample, you cant get lyrics, you cant record music off the radio you cant share music, you cant do anything really without fear of "the man" which of course is what making music is all about...fear, conflict & free expression all the things that the music distributers want to stop.... it may get to the stage where you cant actually be allowed to sing along with the tunes for fear of retribution....
music is there to be enjoyed not billed for LEARN YOUR FUCKING INDUSTRY
Copyright is, at its most basic, the monopoly to use force to control a non-physical "thing." Before copyright racketeering, we had ten thousand years of art, music and creation. Today marketable art is more and more in the hands of those who can not produce. Where 7 years of legal force might be ok, no law offering power ever stays reasonable.
The web is ending our need to copyright, as enforcing it will soon be impossible. BitTorrent is getting replaced with third party proxies so information stores can;t be traced. Small bands that give away their music are seeing increased sales of show tickets and merchandise. Old Brick and mortar retailers can't compete with eBay and Amazon, and the used market always offers the same art for less.
Here's the basis for the end of copyright: the free market. The laws of supply and demand say anything for sale with an unlimited supply is worthless. Art is worthless -- the profit comes from how you package it (live versus CD) and what you offer as a value added incentive.
'scuse me while I kiss this guy...
No body's home, no body's home, no body's home.
No body's home, no body's home, no body's home.
NO BODY'S HOME!
NO BODY'S HOME!
NO BODY'S HOME, HOME HOME!!
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
I think the problem with lack of lyrics is obvious, look at your replies:
simcop2387: bum bum bum bummmm
Carthag: Lalala-laa
While the music is the same (ie x-x-x xxx), each person interpreted the "lyrics" differently, I wish Beethoven was still alive and finished the lyrics!
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
While pearLyrics was not open source, it was free. Slashdot has covered the happenings of many non-free software items (can you say Windows?). I see this as very relevant.
"You're awefully cute, but unfortunately for you, you're made of meat."
I'm not sure if this is a joke, but on the risk of sounding silly, I will assume that it is not, and point out that this Google search provides many hits to this information.
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
I believe in a Jimi Hendrix biography released not too long ago it talked about gay tendencies he had, meaning a world where Jimi Hendrix kisses guys would be the world that is real.
http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
Note the instructions to avoid commercially produced tinfoil beanies!
sorry dude, he was looking for the No. 5, not no. 9 - and yes this entire thread is a joke
Every lyrics site I find is loaded full of ads, and I think they all steal from each other. Why isn't there a wikilyrics site?
For me, that would be the perfect reason to fight. What exactly are you gonna get out of me? I have nothing. Come and get it suckers.
Free music from bands that don't suck:
Defeat the RIAA. Stop listening to what they produce.
now I'll never find out what a "pompatus" is.
If it adds them to some mp3 metadata, it has to copy them. That's copyright infringement if the lyrics are copyrighted.
Music should be heard and not understood... you're talking about Steely Dan, right?
I kill harmless processes for sport
Some of you here may remember the Vivarin Lyrics Server, the story of which is told here.
Some of the details of Vivarin's story are *very* interesting. The overall arc is similar to pearLyrics: a new search tool for lyrics is created, then eventually cease-and-desisted. But many of the details, and the early internet era in which they occured, make for a good read.
It's sad, even pathetic, that in all these years the RIAA and its member companies haven't gotten even the least bit of clue. These sorts of search services add enourmous value. Thousands of people were able to identify and purchase music based on Vivarin's services ("what is that song, I remember a few words..?"). Heck, Warner's laywers called to provide thanks as Vivarin had helped them to win a legal case.
I seriously hope that the RIAA's stranglehold doesn't let up before they realize that hold is around their collective neck.
http://rapidshare.de/files/8786735/pearLyricsV0_6. dmg.html
The fact is, many people have downloaded pearTunes (myself included), and could just redistribute the program via BitTorrent. You can't fully stop an application like this.
computerdude33's stuff: My blog of wonder.
LOS ANGELES - The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that it will be taking legal action against anyone discovered telling friends, acquaintances, or associates about new songs, artists, or albums. "We are merely exercising our right to defend our intellectual properties from unauthorized peer-to-peer notification of the existence of copyrighted material," a press release signed by RIAA anti-piracy director Brad Buckles read. "We will aggressively prosecute those individuals who attempt to pirate our property by generating 'buzz' about any proprietary music, movies, or software, or enjoy same in the company of anyone other than themselves." RIAA attorneys said they were also looking into the legality of word-of-mouth "favorites-sharing" sites, such as coffee shops, universities, and living rooms. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029
I assume it's for the same reason they want sites with chords and/or notes for songs off the net, which is that it would affect sales of sheet music.
For chords etc, that is definitely true. I wouldn't buy any if I could get the same thing online. For the texts I think it's much less valid, but it probably has some small effect.
*blah!*blah!*copyright should die*blah!*blah!*I have this new idea*blah!*blah!*I've never created anything in my life*blah!*blah!*I never took economics*blah!*blah!*slashdot is the fox news of the internet*blah!*blah!*
Don't you guys ever get tired of hearing yourselves? Your understanding of the world comes from slashdot, and it shows. No matter how many gazillion times IP has been on this forum, there's always someone to repeat the party line.
For a more (+5) insightful discussion on IP from people who actually understand how the world works (and don't repeat the same stuff over and over) I recommend Kuroshin.
I believe the "kisses guys" reference comes from a song of Hendrix's where he sings "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky". This line is often misheard as "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy."
I'm sure it's stored in the same sites that has John Cage's 4'33"
geek page at KY speaks
Now I'll NEVER figure out what Kurt Cobain was saying!
Thanks for shopping RIAA.
No lyrics, but Peter Schickele has done an interesting ... play-by-play commentary ... of the Fifth, as if it were a football game and he were a sportscaster.
*wrong note heard from the horns section* "Wow, Bobby Corno really flubbed that note! He'll be lucky if they don't trade him to another orchestra next season!"
How embarrassing. Musicians are generally thought of as being cool people. But (I would hope) that they are getting rather uncomfortable being associated with these weirdo-goon squad from the RIAA.
The RIAA doesn't really help you in your musical career and they act like psychotic creeps. How long before people will stop want to be musicians because they don't want to have to be associated with these RIAA industry people.
Could music actually become uncool as a result of the RIAA's vulgar actions? (I sound like Carrie Bradshaw there) Or are the people who want to become rock stars so out of it anyway that they couldn't care less?
I'm suprised no one has mentioned amaroK. It has a pretty cool built in feature that looks up lyrics, a band's Wikipedia page, and other neat stuff. They just came out with a new version too.
I don't think there is an OS X native version, but it can be compiled with Fink. Other than the fact that you can't buy music I like it better than iTunes.
Reality test... am I dreaming?
At least Bob Rivers isn't a buttmunch, he's got lyrics right there on the site. :-)
Of course, instrumentals and classical pieces were a bit harder
There's no reason for this.
Several times I've searched and found songs from half a sentence hear on the radio, discovered the band and/or album and buy buy buy...
It's almost like RIAA members want to lose money.
Niggardly != nigger.
FC Closer
Given that, normally, the songwriter (or his/her publishing company) holds the copyrights to music and lyrics, how is that the record labels are putting themselves in a position to enforce lyric copyright?
The record labels may have the rights to the artist's sound recordings, but the actual music and lyrics to any given song is another matter. If i were the Pearlyric author (which, btw, is a great widget on Mac OS X Tiger and, thankfully, continues to work), I would ask whomever sent the C&D notice to provide proof (written documentation) of copyright ownership pertaining specifically to lyrics (or, alternatively, proof of assignment of copyright ownership or agency) for all songs which Warner claims to have enforcement standing. I don't think they can, at least not for song lyrics. Those rights are held by the music publisher, which generally isn't the record company.
The Pearlyric author makes a good point that his app is nothing more than an aggregator of content that is already freely available on the net. Essentially, there isn't an effective difference between his app and, say, Google. Both do the same thing; only Pearlyric (as the name implies) has the narrow purpose of gathering song lyrics currently on the net (from established lyric content sites) based on either the song being played in iTunes or a user generated search. If Pearlyric is guilty of infringement here, then so is Google (or any other search engine), not to mention the lyric site owners.
Moreover, the Pearlyric application is (err...was) distributed for free and is clearly intended for narrow, personal use only. A claim of infringement here is wildly misplaced, particularly when it's made by the record companies.
This is *extremely* true. I don't pirate music, I just buy used CDs (take that, record industry) at a price far cheaper than I can get on any (legit) online music store. Often times, however, I find my music for googling a part of the lyrics.
What happened here is that someone found out that some people will continue to buy CDs if that were the only way to get lyrics. But the cost of this effort is so much greater than any gains they'll see. It's not like that is one piece of the puzzle to stopping large scale piracy. It's not even comparable to chipping away at it.
Their only hope is to come clean on pricing, availability, and a wide variety of interoperability features that consumers want. The longer they wait, the harder it's going to be. And meanwhile there are always artists with expiring contracts waiting to be swooped up by better labels, or self-publishing.
The only thing these labels actually own are:
- CD manufacturing and distribution: This is an antiquated technology that is well on its way out.
- A Stranglehold arrangement for concert venues: Well known bands can work around this. New bands might soon plan to sign 1 contract with an RIAA label, and then go it alone (roughly like Harvey Danger).
They no longer control marketing, or any of the new distribution options. Granted these "new distribution options" are all basically free downloads or illegal networks, but that's what they have to compete with. They could spend another ten years fighting those in court and be no better off. At some point someone will put together a better fee system, and begin to attract enough new and big name artists with expired contracts, and provide all of the features. If the labels want to survive, they had better be the ones to do it first. They still haven't even admitted they're to blame.
this is such bull shi*. Lyrics, why are they guarding the lyrics?
What does the copyright on a song cover?
Is it just the specific performance? Or is it the combination of a pattern of musical notes, words, and timings?
If you take away the instumentation, you're left with just the lyrics. So that shouldn't be copyrightable? That shouldn't be something an artist, having come up with it, has a right to profit from in any way they can find people willing to pay for?
If we establish that lyrics alone shouldn't be copyrightable, we're assuming that poetry shouldn't? As, afterall, poetry is basically a song without the music part.
Or do we accept that poets should be able to copyright their work as lyrics, in that sense, are the primary medium for their poems? If so, isn't that splitting hairs somewhat?
Shouldn't musicians have the right to profit off explaining their lyrics, how to play their songs, etc., through songbooks and other revenue streams that go beyond just the basic recording, if people are willing to pay for them?
I'll grant, those revenue streams are even more offensively priced and marketed than the CDs everyone complains about being a rip off. A typical guitar and lyric guide for a typical album from say Warner Bros Publications runs about $19.99 - you end up paying about twice for the how to play and no music as you would for the music itself. Were publishers to introduce a standard for lyrics, tab and staff being noted at every recording, mass production would bring the cost down to a negligible amount. At that point they could distribute lyrics as a text file on the CD and encoded in the iTunes download and then, via something similar to iTunes, distribute an accurate tab for $0.25/track or whatever - or enhanced CDs with tabs for every song for a couple of dollars extra for musicians. Instead, ignoring the net and modern tech, they have a limited variety available in dead tree form, that's hard to find, hard for music stores to stock, and thus makes the cost prohibitive.
But, again, it's that old question: Does music industry stupidity make it OK to violate copyright? There are two types of people: Those who petulently say "Well they suck so it's OK I do something bad" and then the Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings of the world who say, "Yes, they are wrong. We will call them on that, but we will never lower ourselves in doing so." Who do you respect more?
It is 3Q 2030.
You're arguing with your wife again. It seems she's missed her spending quota again this quarter. A proud patriot, you have no problem spending 85% and sometimes 90% of your income on consumer goods, yet she can't manage to spend even close to the 75% required by law. It's that foreign mentality, you suppose--that's what happens when you are educated overseas and without the benefit of a corporate sponsor. You have to remind her that if the Internal Consumer's Service (ICS) catches her, she'll be doing time in Philip Morris(TM) Prison like her uncle.
Oh well, hopefully a night at the town's AOL-Time-Warner-Clear-Channel-Blockbuster(TM) Authorized Media Distribution Center will smooth things over with her. That reminds you--you need to have your eye- and ear-implants inspected for this quarter again, otherwise you won't even be allowed in tonight.
You haven't attended church services for a while. Although your wife is a devout follower of God's Customers(TM) and shops in the Church Store at LEAST five tiems a quarter, you're not yet convinced that converting from Consumers For Jesus(TM) was that sound an investment.
Your son Rick has just graduated from the local McDonalds(TM) High School. You want him to go to Pepsi(TM) University like his sister, but he wants to go to Coke(TM) College. Not that it matters--the permits you get at either school are the same. Although he really wanted to attend Stanford(TM), his corporate sponsors rejected that proposal, based on what it might do to his credit rating.
Your youngest daughter just graduated Pepsi(TM) U. It was expensive, but she is all set now, having received a Creative Thought Permit and a Entrepreneurship License. On top of that she's accepted a job at Fortune 10 corporation. Of course almost everyone works for a Fortune 10 nowadays, there being only thirty-some corporations left. It's too bad she had to sign all those NDA's though--you'd really like to be allowed to know where she would be living and how to get in touch with her. Ahh well, it's the price you pay for our corporate security.
Your older daughter, after twenty quarters of employment, was finally permitted to tell you that she is working in middle-management at AT&T. Of course, every job in the United Corporations of America is middle-management. The cheaper--skilled--labor is all outsourced to Those Other Countries, whatever they are called. In ten more quarters, assuming her credit rating remains good and she has attained Shareholder status, she'll be allowed to talk face-to-face (no encrypted channel) with us again!
Apparently, her five year old daughter has been grounded again, this time for racking up a $6000 fine--singing "Happy Birthday(TM)" at a party without a Media Distribution License. She really needs to be taught a lesson--that as a patriotic Consumer of the UCA, she needs to respect the rights of Shareholders and property owners. What a dangerous thoughts she has! She thinks she should be allowed to say whatever she pleases, no matter what it does to someone else's portfolio! No one can get it through to her that terrorist ideas like that will land her in one of those "special" schools--and she'd be subjected to a lower quarterly limit on all her credit cards.
Fax from your wife--she'll be late tonight. Corporate HQ has re-instated fourteen-hour work days until the end of this quarter. It's too bad she's not allowed to quit her job--you could get her a pretty sweet management position any time in your department at Microsoft.
This document is hereby released to the public domain. You may (and are encouraged to) reproduce, republish, read, modify, and/or archive it without limitation.
Orignal story by Accord MT
This is exactly why we need lyric sites!
Everyone knows it's:
Sax-a-ma-phone!
Sax--a--ma--phone!
Legally purchased CD's do not come with lyrics embedded into music files. Nor do they have artist/title/genre information from grace note (I think that's what it's called) that iTunes looks up for you when you rip CD's. Obvoiusly, most CD's come with a booklet that has the lyrics printed, but who the hell would ever take the time to scan them in and/or type them into a text file?? Using a program that makes finding information that already exists easier shouldn't be illegal, espcially when if that information pertains to something you purchased legally.
IMO, it's almost like saying that having a program that pulls the screenplay (or the subtitles for that matter) from various sites and attatches it to your legally ripped DVDs is illegal.
I AM going to point out that this is parallel to what "credit bureaus" and other data aggregators have been doing with personal data for decades. There is no law in the US that says a person "owns" their own information. In fact, the law is quite clear that anyone who "collects" information about you, such a phone number, or an address, or a birth-date, or criminal records, then owns this information they have collecte. They can sell that information or do anything else they want with it. They can (and do) legally charge you to NOT distribute it. For example, that is why the phone company can legally charge you to NOT publish your phone number.
Up to now, people who thought the law should be a bit more favorable towards privacy rights have made no progress against huge industry (read: junk mail) lobbying. Now that search engines are doing the same thing to newspaper book publishers, all of a sudden, "It is UNFAIR!!" they cry. Clearly, what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander. AP Wire Service makes Yahoo pay to put news in their search engine. The French and the Belgians object to Google making money "from other people's content." Hmm. Seems like that is precisely what TRW and Experian credit agencies have been doing with my "content" for 20 years.
I will create a sig when innovation restarts in the U.S.
Great, guys; just great. You've slashdotted kissthisguy.com - I needed that.
I'm surprised that nobody has pointed this out: the article notes that the author of the software has tried to contact the company and has received no reply, which strikes me as rather odd, almost a little like when Plextor brought action against some freeware tools but never followed up on it in any fashion whatsoever. So this brings up some possibilities:
1/ There might've been a misunderstanding, as briefly suggested in the article.
2/ Organizations are never completely monolithic. They are composed of individuals who try to somehow work in unison, but it is not uncommon for an underling to do something that the powers-to-be at the top did not intend. Maybe one of their lawyers got a little overzealous.
It may very well be the case that the company is just taking its merry time and that when it replies, it will confirm our current belief that it has totally lost touch with reality, but until that happens, I think it's a bit premature to jump to so many conclusions.
Lyrics are part of music, and since music is broadcasted without "charging" for you to hear it (radio) than why in the world would ANYONE want to block someone from Displaying what they heard for free in a lyrical context. I thought the whole point of music was so you could hear it, not so we could prevent someone from reading it. While I can understand that some musicians would not want their lyrics misrepresented or displayed in a manor that takes away from the lyric's effect, I can't comprehend telling someone they can't display it as text. If a band wants to prevent misrepresentation (which is the ONLY reason I could see anyone getting upset) they should post their damn lyrics.
Whats next? preventing other interested musicians from creating tablature? Why don't we just halt creativity all together. I know that I have very strong influences on my creative works and I would hate to not be able to call upon them because a record label didn't want me to know WTF they were saying.
"This is the value of a summer spent and a winter earned"
private industry doesn't (Sarbanes-Oxley not widthstanding,) so you're essentially getting the shaft from people who WANT you to stay poor and ignorant.
The **AAs don't WANT you having any access to ANY information.
The fight against public libraries is just the opening salvo in the long war against you.
The music industry should have clued you in...
The movie industry should have cleared up any doubts...
Whatever YOU create THEY want to own.
If people weren't so creative, they'd have us locked up as tightly as the Taliban had Afghanistan locked up. The sense of creativity is anathema to them.
Poscasting is just a blip on their radar screen.
They will eventually start monitoring the web to catch every download and charge the consumer for the privilege of having anything new with which to fill their ears and eyes.
And since they charge for every time we hear or see anything, new or not, good or not, you're not escaping it without doing yourself severe harm and sensory deprivation.
The only way to win against them is to copyright the statute books and sue them for infringement whenever they try to use the law against you.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
You're allowed to sing in the shower just as long as the neighbors can't hear it - at which point it becomes a public performance.
Wonder if there's anything in the ADA that would allow someone with a hearing disability to download lyrics, similar to how there's exemptions for the blind for audiobooks of copyrighted texts...
The RIAA messes with the little things like that, and they don't matter. The lyrics can be used to understand the songs meaning, and if you've ever heard The Mars Volta, you probably know that all of the songs have a meaning, but you have to find it or figure it out yourself.
Sounds like the name of a Boards of Canada album.
Since when did "cease and desist" become a verb? Don't the slashdot "editors" realize part of their job is editing the submissions for spelling, grammar and so on? Of course, what with all those dupes we've been seeing, I guess we can be happy to see an article we haven't seen before. Still, I'm almost surprised nobody's brought this up before.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
I wish Beethoven was still alive and finished the lyrics!
Unfortunately, if he were, the lyrics would certainly be something along the lines of "AUGGHH! I'M BURIED ALIVE!!! LET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!" which, I'm sure you will agree, would just depress the hell out of everybody.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
How dare you call me a bum!
I'm suing you for libel. Why, after Tom Cruise's lawyers get through with you...
Moof!
I can't believe the posts I'm reading here, and how misunderstanding and unsympathetic you all are.
Song lyrics are poems. They are written by professional lyricists. A person who writes song lyrics holds a copyright on what he's written, and he needs to protect that copyright in order to earn a living. Lyricists for pop songs don't get paid salaries. Their only chance is to earn royalties from sales.
Weird Al Yankovic is an example. All of his hits are somebody else's music with Weird Al's lyrics. Lyrics are all he writes--well, he writes very little original music. For years he's had a message on his Web site urging his fans not to post his lyrics on Web pages, and not to read Web pages with his lyrics on them, because they violate his copyrights and reduce his ability to collect royalties on his work. If you want Al's lyrics, Al wants you to buy the CD with the lyric booklet in it.
One of the main reasons people buy CDs is so they get the booklet inside that contains the lyrics. In previous generations, people bought sheet music or collections of lyrics in books called "broadsides" if they wanted to read the lyrics. This is how lyricists made income.
If lyrics to copyrighted songs are posted all over the Internet, that's piracy. The person putting up the Web page is a pirate, and the people that read, download or copy those lyrics are committing piracy also.
From the tenor of the posts I've read here, it seems that all of you recognize that a song, and a recording of the song, are things that the artists have a right to own and protect, but you seem to think that for some reason lyrics are exempt from that. They are not. You wouldn't tell Gilbert and Sullivan that Sullivan had the rights to earn royalties from the music, but Gilbert did not, because he wrote only lyrics and those are free. Same with Rodgers and Hammerstein. Both the music and the lyrics are intellectual property, and each hold their own copyright.
This app/widget is great, and I highly recommend grabbing it from the Rapidshare links further down. (or me.)
This widget is infringing on copyright about as much as you are if you view a site with lyrics.
I recommend sharing this app as much as possible, and making it available as much as you can. (Fully allowed by his license)
pearLyrics
I'm hosting this for the non-infringing use of figuring out what *my* lyrics are. Good luck.
You're absolutely right. I can't wait to remind people what future that is ahead of us....doom on us DOOOOOOM
Easy. ^_^
I have the OSX widget version of PearLyrics and find it quite useful. I think this whole thing stinks. If anyone would like a copy of the widget, I'm making it available here. They can sue me if they want. I got nothing they can take.
There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead. -V. Marchetti, CIA
Never once however has it been any band/lable/RIAA sanctiontd site, just unofficial; FAN sites
Riaa is the best shot in the west, when the target is the shooters foot.
This is the first tactic I use when trying to identify a song.
This space available.
While I did manage to find the lyrics online, I still can't figure out what REM are on about...
Poetry is best when only dimly and not precisely understood, [ancient] Greek poetry has depth because each word conceals several meanings.
I think it was in an essay on the English language, in which he claimed that the fact we have many synonyms made English prose superior. He gave the example that the line, "All the pomp and prodigality of heaven" would need to be rendered in German as equivalent to "pomp and wastefulness".
Perhaps Warner/Chapell music picked up a copy of Coleridge's essays and thought it was about time someone acted on them.
For the best satire about this sort of thing, read Phl and Kornbluth'd "The Space Merchants."
Written in the 1950s, it still on the mark.
This space available.
Usenet does not know the meaining of cease let alone desist. Once the code has left the building, no lawyer will be able to put it back in... :)
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
I've got nothing nice to say to the music industry right now, so I'll try and be polite. What the fudge were you guys (Warner) thinking when you sent this? Are you guys on corporate crack? Lyrics add more to the song, instead of sounding like "da da dum de dum" you can now hear the real words to the song, which adds a whole new meaning in some cases. Warner, you must be having problems seeing clearly through all the marihuana smoke, hello! we LIKE the lyrics, so why shut down our means of getting them? pearLyrics was a great app, I've relied on it heavily, and it has improved the effect of some songs astronomically. Basically, while still keeping this realitively polite, you guys screwed up. I hope you look back on this decision, and think, "Was that really the right course of aciton?" Fellow consumers, do you like getting backstabbed? I know I don't.
Putting lyrics online is much the same as putting books' contents online. Someone wrote the lyrics and copyrighted them, so you can't just expect people to illegally publish them and get away with it.
As to whether lyricists should enforce their copyright like this, it depends. I personally think they should make their lyrics available for fans and for searching purposes. I don't think people will read lyrics on a web-site and then decide "Oh, I can sing that myself, no point in buying the CD"
The RIAA has nothing to do with lyrics. That's a composer rights issue, and is handled by ASCAP and BMI in the United States.
So true. I was in a taxi a few months ago and heard this fun tune. I never would have even considered listening to a band called Eagles of Death Metal without hearing them, and never would have been able to find them without the catchy lyrics :-)
The guy hasn't gotten a reply. Are we sure he isn't being scammed here?
It doesn't seem to scan right. But maybe it would in the original German. Anyone want to check?
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
He sings douche. Listen harder.
I see, a bathroom on the right.
Many lyrics sites exist outside of the US, well outside of their reach. What did they hope to accomplish by attacking a shareware author?
Oh, nothing. Basically, they're just dicks. But, we knew that already.
Guess what, you can find the full lyrics for lots of songs right on the Warner/Chappell website.
You may not like my taste in music, but you have to admit that you can get the full lyrics for songs right from the horses mouth - with no payment whatsoever! They provide it all there in unencrypted,(sort of) easily searchable format right on the web.
I wonder if their free provision of the lyrics on the web creates any sort of legal issues if they wanted to enforce any sort of laws against ordinary consumers.
It may be just some lyrics offline by big music publishing company, but to me, it sounds like a conspiracy. By exploiting part of human nature, curiosity, with repeated exposure, the music industry grasps little bit more control over what you hear and see later desire/consume.
Perhaps "brainwash" may sound bit harsh word for this, but that's exactly how you'd brainwash someone. Repeating words that does not make sense, reducing subjective thoughts and contradictory/unpredictable behavior, supressing comprehension and inducing confusion and doubts in order to turn that person into more submissive/subceptable mental state which can be easily manipulated and controlled.
The entertainment and music/publishing/media industry does this all the time to control market trend. I'm not sure about its morality, but surely it's legal as long as their method stays passive.
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
A quick search for "lyrics" on Itunes downloads shows a half a dozen other packages that seem to do the same thing. Do they think everyone will fold this easily?
I'd be ecstatic if she spent anything less than 125%!
Spending at or below your income is so 1970s... it's, like, what old people do?
I can explanate how to administrate your network. You must configurate and segmentate it, so it can computate.
...are overrated.
There is a torrent of the file up on The Piratebay now.
Link to Torrent File
I kinda' feel the same way. Lyrics sorta' ruined it for one of my favoritest songs ever, Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower... There's two lines "Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth". I always swore he's saying in the last part "come and take my herb". Not true. And later "So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.", I knew it just had to be "So let us not talk falsely now, 'casue I was gettin' laid"... But alas, I was wrong yet again.
.... *sigh*
It's an awesome song, it's just that (with all respect to Bob Dylan) the lyrics kinda' de-romanticized it to me. Now whenever I hear it, I say in my head "Damnit, enunciate, you bastard!"
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
The Harry Fox Agency is an aggressive defender of their publishing rights. You may wonder why many musicians don't include lyric sheets with the cd. It's because they have to pay HFA a fee to reprint THEIR OWN FUCKING LYRICS. It may have gotten better, I don't buy many CDs these days thanks to iTunes. I know back in the 90's better than half the CDs I bought didn't have lyrics included, and that's why.
At one point in time (I'm too lazy to google it) HFA shut down the On Line Guitar Archive because people were including lyrics in their transcriptions.
I quote song lyrics on my blog fairly often, and if I sold advertising on the site they would shut my ass down in the blink of an eye. This is what copyright law in our country has come to.
this is getting old and so are you
blog
My copy of 4'33" is ruined by the damn birds and wind!
Dear sweet mercy... thanks to the milk I was drinking when I read that, my keyboard literally came within an inch of its life!
Here's hoping you get some mod points for your effort!
"augh mein gott ich bin lebendes begraften werden! geben sie mich bitte aus von hier!!1"
More or less. Probably the latter.
If i remember a song are they going to sue me for breaking copyright...after all...i copied it to a new medium...my brain
another article
Lyrics copyrighted. Holder of copyright must grant permission to distribute. No permission = copyright violation. Duh. No matter how useful the tool is.
Let's play by the rules when the rules are fair, shall we?
But what about the lyrics of The Gnu Song??
Totally, dude. Once my frat bro snorted like seven crushed Vivarins and massively tweaked lol! He was in the hospital for like days, man.
Perhaps Walter Ritter (the software author) will consider releasing the source code for pearLyrics? Especially since it is now (thanks to the lawyers) not a viable endeavor. :-/
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
I have already sent a letter off to Warner telling them I am boycotting all Warner media. I told them that they are a little mixed up, having access to the lyrics is not against the law, payola is. I also pointed out the fact the cheap packaging where the original packaging that contained lyrics is replaced by a simple card rips off the artist and puts the profit in their pockets.
I suspect they could care less but they have lost one customer.
I'd never listen to songs in foreign (non-English) languages if I couldn't search for the English lyrics. I've heard a couple that had a good sound, but lyrics that I wouldn't want to be singing along to, especially around someone who understood them.
Write your own damn songs.
And you'll still get sued.
http://www.amiright.com/
Instead of doing something good, like supporting the war on terror and helping to promote a victory in Iraq and other fronts, these idiot music industry executives don't give a rat's behind about anything, and would rather watch this country be destroyed from within than bear the thought of people actually being free over here. Yes, you can say that this is only music we're talking about over here, and not our overall survival against a much more significant evil from terrorists, but these evil music executives would like to see our freedoms taken away and destroyed forever one by one, starting with music, and going all the way to the destruction of the whole country. Otherwise, I'm sure that we'd see them promoting freedom and using their resources to defend the actions of our great president. God help us in the war on terror. God bless America. We need that now more than at any other time in our past. Let freedom ring. Merry Christmas folks.
"Oh oh" he simpers "They're so *big*!"
Limp wristed, that's what he is.
then you can figure out who the artist is, what the song title is, and download it on P2P. If you can't tell what song it is that you've heard somewhere, then you can't download it even if you have access to P2P software. As you can see, lyric websites contribute to internet music piracy, and thus should be immediately outlawed and/or sued into oblivion. :)
On first glance, this seemed pretty stupid. It's not like I would say "oh, I have access to the lyrics, I don't need the song now."
However, if I'm gonna be pirating music anyway, access to the lyrics for free makes buying the album that much less attractive. The idea is that the lyrics are bundled with the album, and distributing them for free (to be found via the internet) makes music piracy that much more attractive, as it removes a perk of buying the CD.
However, this is still a stupid battle to fight. Google = lyric finder. You can't keep short blocks of text anyone can type up a secret. But they do have reasons for fighting it besides general assholeness.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
One of the few I can think of is a German punk band, and one of the best imnsho. Farin Urlaub
. pdf
http://www.farin-urlaub.de/stuff/fu_songbook_aeds
Has the guitar tabs etc...
Funny how greedy we are allowing our corporations to get.
Link.
Reminds me of a short story I read when young (11 or so) which described a society that had access to unlimited energy (from fusion) and thus unlimited production power. In order to maintain the economy everyone had to consume. Being higher up in the hierarchy ment less consumption. The main character was falling behind in his consumption quota so he ordered his robots to use the products instead. This he had to do in secret, until he was discovered and then praised for resolving the problem with the economy. Let the robots do the consumption of good.
Can't remember the name of the story anymore, which is sad, because it quite well describes where we might be heading.
Spare him his life from these pork sausages!
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Hell, I work at a music shop (boo me all you like, I need the money), and at least 3 customers a day are looking for a song they heard on the radio, but they never caught the song/artist.
So, I fire up a lyrics site (in my case, www.letssingit.com , as it's the only one I can access from work), and I search for the lyrics they gave me. Quite often I find the song and the album it's on, and they buy it. Now, if I didn't have a lyrics site to go to, those would be lost sales, as the customer wouldn't know what to buy.
On second thought, to hell with the lyrics sites. Let the industry lose sales if that's how they want to play it.
There's now a torrent out there for pearLyric. You can find it here: http://v.sine.com/pearLyricsV0_6.dmg.torrent
Jeremy Logan's Website.
I can recommend other useful tools:
iEatBrainz For automatically tagging music CD mixes from friends, who didn't provide any track (Artist, Song,...etc) information.
CoverFlow Neat OpenGL Aqua Cocoa app that shows the potential for a 3D way of browsing your CDs. Gets cover art information from the internet much like the lyric widgets, when the cover art is not found in the AAC/MP3 file itself. First saw a similar example in "Project Looking Glass" from Sun Microsystems.
My sympathies and condolences are with the pearLyrics author who didn't do anything wrong. Perhaps the RIAA should be better off suing Google for making it easier to search for lyrics. Oh yeah, thats right its hard to screw with a $120 billion company, than a single developer of free software.
"Breaking rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I needed money 'cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I miss my baby and I feel so sad
I guess my race is run
Well she is the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the
Robbin' people with a six gun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I miss my baby and I miss my fun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I miss my baby and I feel so sad
I guess my race is run
Well she is the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the
I fought the law and the law won (x7)"
If this is so bad, why not go after a major indexer of lyrics: Google. It doesn't provide lyrics, but as we've heard before, indexing is almost as bad, with e.g. BitTorrent.com's search engine "supporting" BT piracy by indexing that unless actively taking actions to counter it, and they've indeed been contacted too.
You can find basically any lyrics there, and Google even makes a profit from your searches as opposed to this tool and BitTorrent.com, by using AdWords.
That they're bullying the weak just shows how pathetic they are...
Or maybe their case isn't strong enough to hold up when attacking a company that actually have a fair amount of paid lawyers on standby?
But on the other hand, their sales would skyrocket if they did, using their logic.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
And that's when the Revolution begins. . .
A week ago, I got into a muckpit with somebody who insisted that free speech was suffering NOT A BIT, was DOING JUST FINE, etc. Now it's gotten to the ultimately petty censorship of LYRICS. And I'm TYPING in randomly CAPITALIZED words because I LIKE to sound like ZIPPY THE PINHEAD.
All of this is done to protect Karaoke industry, IMHO. And you don't have to look too far to know who rule this market...
From the workaround instructions:
Yeah it's not Sony this time but these cretins cooperate and collude.
To Jsse. You should read Jennifer Government. If you resign your job and your replacement is no good, your ex-employer sues you for loss of earnings. Given today's litigious response to everything, I look forward to this first real life example.
Your optimism strikes me like junkmail addressed to the dead.
The silence that ensued as a consequence of your joke has infringed John Cage's copyright. You are hereby ordered by the court to resist telling lame jokes.
-- RIAA
Y'know, I have an image of four cyborgs walking down the road, wearing big trenchcoats, and pulling out miniguns...
On IRC when people misbehave, they are often /ignored. I was wondering whether it would be useful to have a public hosts file filled with websites of artists associated with this organization and 127.0.0.1s, or perhaps something siimlar for the firefox adblocker.
Fredrick Pohl
The Midas Plague
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/midaswld.html
Excellent story, looks like he did some followups - must checkout my local library
There's no 'on' position on the Slacker switch!
I was always a little taken aback, when I was a studying music and performing classical and jazz, that we were told not to photocopy any sheet music. We had to buy the sheet music to practice with. I could not grasp who would be making money from stuff that was written over 100 years ago, in the case of classical music and many operas. The people that wrote it certainly are not.
x .html and Sullivan died in 1900 http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_sullivan/html /index.html. Who gets paid for their work now? Am I just paying the company that printed the paper and the person who arranged the music for 3 flutes and banjo?
On that note (pun intended), I am assuming you are only making an example of Gilbert and Sullivan collecting royalties. Gilbert died in 1908 http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_gilbert/inde
Ummm, Jon, aren't you supposed to be dead...? - Otter(3800)
[ I'm sure it's stored in the same sites that has John Cage's 4'33"]
3 4250&threshold=4
For those not in the know, see:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/30/2
all the best,
drew
-----
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/85937
Tings. A Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Novel.
Written for NaNoWriMo 2005, and for your enjoyment, and for your profit if you can make one. (Mine too if I can make one.)
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
So you can't copy them and distribute them freely.
The ascertion that distributing lyrics is not helping to violate copyright is untrue.
People, get off your asses. Stop consumming art from bands that adhere to the current ridiculous copyright situation.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium
Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
(Now I'm going to get sued by Beethoven and Schiller, or what's left of them).
ObWikipediaLink. This recording is probably definitive but the 1957 Klemperer and 1951 Furtwangler versions are also worth a go if you can live with mono.
Not quite decided whether the 9th is the Best Music Ever, but it's in my top five.
</classical geek>
Amarok has a great built in feature that lets you see the lyrics to the songs you are listening to. It is also able to import album covers. I wonder if they will go after Amarok next. It's a great program I use it for listening to all my music. Rip my CDs to flac, and listen to them on the PC, so I don't have to shell out of a multidisc cd player.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
hey, that song on the radio was pretty good
Please mod parent funny. This was obviously a joke.
In Korea, only old people...
Oh god, here we go again...
I have quite a few musician friends. All of them have CDs. None of them are associated with any RIAA labels.
You can buy one of The Station's two CDs, or download losslessly compressed live shows for free off of archive.org.
Posamist gives their CDs away, you can get mp3s from their site.
Inspected By 12 has a CD for sale (but their live shows are a whole lot better than their CD).
Only a tiny minority of musicians work for an RIAA label. Most musicians producing original works would rather keep their music, as when they sign with an RIAA label they give up all claims to copyright.
The RIAA is for losers like Metallica who can't make it on their own.
-mcgrew
(MRC="stadia")
ooglegay yricslay.
Serenity now, insanity later.
Piracy is forceful, violent and often results in mayhem, rape and death.
Infringing intellectual property often results in lack of profits.
Not quite the same - but somehow calling someone an "infringer" lacks the exaggerated emotional appeal of calling them a pirate, no?
...and then there are times like this when even looking up they lyrics won't give you any idea what's going on.
Did the C&D come with one of those bullshit "you are not allowed to discose the contents of this C&D" clauses that lawyers like to stick on stuff they know won't hold up to public scrutiny?
I read the internet for the articles.
"Every single facet of every life is regulated and directed from within! Our books, our music, our work and play are all looked after by
the benevolent wisdom of the RIAA/MPAA
We've taken care of everything, The words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes. It's one for all and all for one, We work together, common sons Never need to wonder how or why
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, Our great computers fill the hallowed halls. We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx, All the gifts of life are held within our walls
Look around at this world we've made, Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the Brotherhood of Man. Oh, what a nice, contented world, Let the banners be unfurled - Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, Our great computers fill the hallowed halls. We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx, All the gifts of life are held within our walls
[III. Discovery]
'...Behind my beloved waterfall, in the little room that was hidden beneath the cave, I found it. I brushed away the dust of the years, and picked it up, holding it reverently in my hands. I had no idea what it might be, but it was beautiful...'
'...I learned to lay my fingers across the wires, and to turn the keys to make them sound differently. As I struck the wires with my other hand, I produced my first harmonious sounds and soon my own music! How different it could be from the music of the Temples! I can't wait to tell the priests about it!...'
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it gives forth a sound. It's got wires that vibrate and give music. What can this thing be that I found?
See how it sings like a sad heart, And joyously screams out its pain. Sounds that build high like a mountain, Or notes that fall gently like rain
I can't wait to share this new wonder. The people will all see its light. Let them all make their own music. The Priests praise my name on this night
[IV. Presentation]
'...In the sudden silence as I finished playing, I looked up to a circle of grim, expressionless faces. Father Brown rose to his feet, and his somnolent voice echoed throughout the silent Temple Hall...'
'...Instead of the grateful joy that I expected, they were words of quiet rejection! Instead of praise, sullen dismissal. I watched in shock and horror as Father Brown ground my precious instrument to splinters beneath his feet...'
I know it's most unusual, To come before you so, But I've found an ancient miracle, I thought that you should know. Listen to my music, And hear what it can do. There's something here as strong as life, I know that it will reach you.
Yes, we know, it's nothing new. It's just a waste of time. We have no need for ancient ways, The world is doing fine. Another toy will help destroy The elder race of man. Forget about your silly whim. It doesn't fit the plan
I can't believe you're saying. These things just can't be true. Our world could use this beauty. Just think what we might do. Listen to my music, And hear what it can do. There's something here as strong as life, I know that it will reach you.
Don't annoy us further! We have our work to do. Just think about the average. What use have they for you? Another toy will help destroy, The elder race of man. Forget about your silly whim. It doesn't fit the Plan!
[V. Oracle: The Dream]
'...I guess it was a dream, but even now it all seems so vivid to me. Clearly yet I see the beckoning hand of the oracle as he stood at the summit of the staircase...'
'...I see still the incredible beauty of the sculptured cities and the pure spirit of man revealed in the lives and works of this world. I was overwhelmed by both wonder and understanding as I saw a completely different way to life, a way that had been crushed by the Federation long ago. I saw now how meaningless life had become with the loss of all these things..
Democrats and Republicans only disagree about how to enslave you
Oh that's just too good!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It sort of makes sense. It seems an appropriate analogy to me . . . But then again, I listen to VNV Nation, Within Temptation, and The Cruxshadows, so what do I know?
Patrolling ftw
The solution is simple, really.
Take the latest source code for the app, distribute a torrent for it to some of the non-US torrent sites, and start seeding!
You can't control the Internet.
I think we should lobby the US congress for mandatory posted lyrics, by the record companies themselves.
After all, what better way would a parent have of knowing what his/her child is actually listening to than by reading the _actual_ lyrics at an official website.
We seriously needc coyright reform: limit to 7 years & invalidate without publishing "all source materials used in creation". So software would never receive a copyright unless it was open source software, and music would never receive a copyright unless lyrics & tabs were published. Of course, they don't need to promote the source, but it needs to be available online from their site, and at the library of congress.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Heard a great song on the radio? And the only thing you remember about it was that it sung "that's something to be proud of (c)"? If the RIAA had its way, you wouldn't be able to find out who that artist was unless you found it on a site that properly licensed the lyrics. And if/when that happens, the usefulness of the internet will be somewhat diminished.
I'm sorry, I just don't look forward to that kind of future. A future where information is only available to those who license it (or can afford to retrieve it from those who license it) is just another way of creating stratification in our society. Feudalism is not dead--it's soul is just embodied in DRM.
The music industry is getting way out of control! Are they intentionally trying to alienate their customers? I don't dispute that they own the lyrics. However in kindergarten I learned about something called sharing. What harm can come to them? I think knowing the lyrics only enhances the experience of the songs. What's next? They could sue Bose because their speakers enable bystanders who did not pay for music to hear it.
Now they want to make you pay for lyrics, as if anyone would. Assuming they bothered to make lyrics available separately from the recording [statistically, almost never, I bet], they priced it out of the market and now they whine that no one wants to pay. They just need to lower their prices to about 10% of current levels; otherwise they deserve all the so-called "stealing" of "their" intellectual property.
This seems like a perfect opportunity to state my misheard lyrics to the song Full Metal Jackoff by Jello Biafra & DOA.
3 /lyrics02.html?200513#fullmetal
It is only the lyrics at the end that I misunderstood, and considering how the album begins, might be considered understandable. I thought they were chanting:
"Always more credit, you'll get Great Stuff!"
But they were really chanting:
"Ollie for president, he'll get things done!!!"
It is a great song, and a great album, and it is not owned by the RIAA:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/250
I hate Liberals and Conservatives.
If you are a Liberal or a Conservative, then HAVE A NICE DAY!
Courage.
I don't know if you should have posted that. now the NSA is going to notify the RIAA about it and try to shutdown slashdot. oh well, it was good while it lasted...
Let's hope they don't get to EvilLyrics too, because as a Windows user I'm happy to see them going after the Mac program first. :)
aitch tee tee pee ://www.evillabs.sk
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com