[Infowarrior] - Copyright freaks now taking on guitar tab sites

[Richard Forno]

(c/o Anonymous....here's another case of so-called-IP protections gone
awry.....rf)

http://www.guitarzone.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=163367

To all "Guitar Tab Universe" visitors:

The company which owns this website has been indirectly threatened (via our
ISP) with legal action by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA)
as well as the Music Publishers' Association (MPA) on the basis that sharing
tablature constitutes copyright infringement. At what point does describing
how one plays a song on guitar become an issue of copyright infringment?
This website, among other things, helps users teach eachother how they play
guitar parts for many different songs. This is the way music teachers have
behaved since the first music was ever created. The difference here is that
the information is shared by way of a new technology: the Internet.

When you are jamming with a friend and you show him/her the chords for a
song you heard on the radio, is that copyright infringement? What about if
you helped him/her remember the chord progression or riff by writing it down
on, say, a napkin... infringement? If he/she calls you later that night on
the phone or e-mails you and you respond via one of those methods, are you
infringing? I don't know... but I would really like to know. If anyone has
information on this, please email support at guitartabs.cc.

Apparently, the NMPA/MPA believes that the Internet may be on the foul side
of the legality line they would like to draw here. For me, I see no
difference. It's teachers educating students and covered as a 'fair use' of
the tablature. The teachers here don't even get paid nor do the students
have to pay this website to access the lessons.

An attack on this website is really an attack on every one of you who have
told someone (in person, or via the written word, telephone, or e-mail) how
you play a song on guitar. And who, especially among small websites, has the
deep pockets to fight the NMPA/MPA? They use scare tactics while there is,
in fact, no legal precedent on this matter (to the best of our knowledge).
If you are interested in expressing your opinion to the NMPA/MPA, contact
them via their respective websites. Please do not resort to vulgar language
or insults.

Millions of people use the Internet to learn guitar, in one form or another.
It appears the NMPA/MPA and their members do not want to support us and help
us further our education. To you visitors from outside the USA or UK, can
you find your favorite artists' "official sheet music" at your local music
store? Even in the United States and United Kingdom, we often can not. The
NMPA/MPA have a choice to make: either they support us as aspiring
guitarists, or they choose to alienate their customer base. To date, not one
sheet music publisher has contacted this website to either inquire as to our
activities or to express interest in any type of dialogue or collaboration
whatsoever. All we deserve is a cold, indirect, impersonal threat without
any explanation? They should embrace new technologies or else become relics
of the old economy.

Since I'm now 'worried' about working around tabs at all, I'm in a tough
situation! Luckily, I'm fairly confident that if I alone listen to a song
and then figure out how to play it by ear, I will then be able to enjoy
using that knowledge to practice and improve my guitar playing skills. Is
that what is necessary for everyone to do? Work these things out alone? What
a sad situation