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Guitartabs.com Suspends Under Legal Pressure

Posted by kdawson on from the not-another-mpaa dept.

Music publishers are stepping up their campaign to remove guitar tablature from the Net. Recently Guitartabs.com received a nastygram from lawyers for the National Music Publishers Association and The Music Publishers Association of America. These organizations want to stretch the definition of their intellectual property to include by-ear transcriptions of music. Guitartabs.com is currently not offering tablature while the owner evaluates his legal options.

8 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Stairway by Digitus1337 · · Score: 5, Funny

    No stairway. Denied!

    1. Re:Stairway by Xinef+Jyinaer · · Score: 4, Funny

      ..... PbZ, now I really feel like a fucking nerd.

      --
      Some days I just get bored and Troll post all the memes I can think of...
    2. Re:Stairway by BillX · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yikes, this makes two consecutive stories where this post would be entirely on-topic and +5 Funny.

      --
      Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
  2. WTF??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    National Music Publishers Association?

    The Music Publishers Association of America???

    Isn't the RIAA enough??

    You Americans hate music... huh?

    1. Re:WTF??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      You Americans hate music... huh?

      Nah. We just love Associations.

  3. Do a rot13 equivalent by shawn443 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What a coincidence. When I take this fantastically bad composition titles "Fgnvejnl Gb Urnira" and alter the notes in a certain pattern, I get Stairway To Heaven.

  4. Re:IP issues. by Wayne247 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is, isn't it?

    I mean, I can't even sign "Happy birthday!" to my kid, I have to use some open-source song such as "Today is the anniversary of your birth!" with similar hooks, but not quite.

    Thank you very much, copyright laws. You've made our world a better place!

  5. Copyright by Phroggy · · Score: 4, Funny

    A
    Blah blah blah blah-dy blah blah blah,

    D                      A
    Blah blah blah blah-dy blah blah blah.

    D
    Blah blah-dy blah blah, blah blah blah,

    A
    Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

    E7               D
    Blah, blah blah; blah blah blah.

    A
    Blah!  Blah blah blah.

    There, I've just written some chords for a song I made up.  But you know what?  Those chords are NOT COPYRIGHTABLE.  The lyrics are (and if you record and distribute a song with these lyrics without paying me royalties, I'll come after you).  The melody is, but I haven't written that down.  The arrangement is (harmonies, instrumentation, etc.) but I haven't written that down either.  The chords themselves are not.  This is data, information about how the song is put together - not art.

    By the way, this particular series of chords (transposed into all 24 major and minor keys) is used in hundreds if not THOUSANDS of different songs.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;