Powertabs illegal!

I got my answer in the other forum. Thank you, Paul.

Mike

I just replied on that other thread wherever it is. No, no plans to remove any lessons. We're a lesson site not a tab site. Are they going to take teaching to court?

I feel bad that sites like Powertabs are gone. I know what it's like to work on something for years. For the owners of that site it must feel like the MPA is trying to destroy their lives.

I edited my post just before you replied because I read the other one you left me, but again, thank you.

Mike

I feel bad that sites like Powertabs are gone. I know what it's like to work on something for years. For the owners of that site it must feel like the MPA is trying to destroy their lives.They are. :x

You can E-mail the MPA and tell 'em what you think.

Their address is: [email protected]

I told 'em this:

I believe you're doing a very wrong thing by pursuing legal action against websites that host guitar (and other) tablature. The tabs on these sites are the work of individual guitarists who've spent a great deal of time listening to tunes, coming up with their interpretations of them and writing them down for the education of other players. They're not making anything off of them, they haven't "stolen" anything from your members, and few if any of the players who've downloaded a tab to help them get started learning a song would've bought a published one.

This has caused a great deal of ill will among guitarists. I am not much of a tab user myself, but I do sympathize with them. I will avoid purchasing publications from your members if you persist in this action, and will encourage others to do the same. I'm copying this to a thread on the topic in a guitar discussion board on the Internet.

At this juncture, Powertabs are NOT illegal. Ther is no court order, no injunction, nothing, that says Powertabs are illegal. There seems to have been a warning from MPA lawyers, that has caused Powertabs to back off, but there is NO decision in any court that they are illegal.
There is still time for guitarists to tell the MPA, their lawyers and the government that it will not be taken lightly - votes will be cast against anyone supporting these measures, muck will be raked (how many politicians have no skeletons in the cupboard?) and record companies will be boykotted.

The folks to boycott in this case aren't the record producers (there are plenty of reasons to boycott them, too), but the music publishers. Sheet music, lesson books and the like.

The folks to boycott in this case aren't the record producers (there are plenty of reasons to boycott them, too), but the music publishers. Sheet music, lesson books and the like.
Hal and Mel?

I expect they're members of the Music Publishers' Association. Wouldn't hurt to ask them. The MPA members need to hear that guitarists are angry and in a boycott mood. It'll affect them more than it will the MPA professional thugs.

Here's another great site that has Voluntarily removed tabs
http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk

They have posted the following message:

Due to statements made by the US Music Publishers' Association (MPA) [ click here ] and the fact many other sites (Taborama, PTA etc) have removed their tabs Mike's Guitar Site is removing it's non-licensed tabs till the situation is sorted out.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, hope you understand, the rest of the site is still available to view, along with licensed tabs.

Hal Leonard are listed in the MPA members list, but Mel Bay isn't

A :-)

dylanchords.com also removed his tabs, wich is a shame, considering the fantastic work that he has been doing for years!

dylanchords.com also removed his tabs, wich is a shame, considering the fantastic work that he has been doing for years!

That's where I first learned about this mess. I understand it, but I don't like it.

It has occured to me, that libraries regularly lend out books of music, tabs ect. as well as cd's. Obviously, for whatever reason it is legal for them to do this. A large number of public libraries have resources available on the net. So if one were to open a library, it stands to reason that it would be legal to "loan" out tabs. Now the real question here is, IS there something you need to file with some government agency to become a library and are there any regulations that dictate that a library MUST be housed in a physical location OR could it be a wholly internet based library?

In my opinion, the library defense is a much better one than the 'educational' approach. Not only do libraries exist to share information, but there's also a fair use exemption that applies to libraries - they're allowed to make a photocopy of a work they've purchased (in the event the original is damaged or stolen)

There's significant differencea between libraries and tab sites, though... first, libraries PAY for their books, so the publishers have already gotten some income. Libraries typically pay a higher rate than bookstores, too.

The second hurdle will probably be profit motive. Libraries are non-profit institutions, usually owned by either government or educational institutions. I've been in a similar discussion on another board, and I don't think any tab sites will meet this hurdle.

Finally, there's depth of distribution. Once a library lends their copy, no one else can borrow it until the original lender returns it. Internet distribution is limitless; the courts are going to have to figure out how that will work. I know there are existing models that seem to work - many university libraries have downloads available of periodicals and scholarly articles for their students to use, but I'm afraid I don't know how the rights for this stuff works on the financial side.

The financial side is pretty critical to the argument. In fact, there's a lot of money at stake for the tab sites as well as copyright holders. I checked Alexa for Guitar Tab Universe, and discovered they get about 300 million page hits per month. Given that internet advertising might run $4-7 per thousand impressions, I came up with a rough revenue potential of $17 million dollars per year for that site. All of the big tab sites carry advertising - the front banner on GTU yesterday was for SBC (I think they have a decent ad budget!). So I'm more than a little skeptical of the 'we're only doing it to help the poor musicians' approach a lot of tab sites are pitching.