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MUSIC PUBLISHERS GO AFTER GUITAR TAB SITE
PETER J. ALLEN, GUITAR TABS - Today I received a certified letter from
Moses & Singer LLP, a law firm in New York City which asserts that they
are acting as counsel for the National Music Publishers Association and
The Music Publishers Association of America. They have stated that
guitar tablature hosted on my site violates the copyrights of several of
their clients.
I have long been of the understanding that an original, by-ear
transcription of a song, which is a duplicate of no copyrighted work and
which generally deviates substantially from the work on which it is
based is the property of its transcriber, and not the original composer
of the song. The NMPA and MPA clearly disagree, and are threatening to
send a DMCA letter to my host, as well as pursue other undisclosed legal
actions in the event that I were to fall short of full cooperation with
their demands.
This site has been a part of my life for ten years now, and I honestly
believe that what I'm doing is neither illegal nor harmful to the music
publishing industry. My site generates interest in playing music, which
can only lead to more purchases of licensed sheet music. In addition, I
have referred tens of thousands of dollars in licensed sheet music sales
to my affiliates over the years. The notion that a musician serious
enough to spend $30 on a sheet music book would instead settle for a
by-ear tablature interpretation seems unlikely to me. While highly paid
lawyers may easily be able to use corrupt, recently-manipulated and
poorly-tested copyright law to suggest that I am violating the law, the
argument that I have actually damaged their industry in the process
seems ludicrous.
http://www.guitartabs.com/nmpa.php
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MUSIC PUBLISHERS GO AFTER GUITAR TAB SITE
PETER J. ALLEN, GUITAR TABS - Today I received a certified letter from
Moses & Singer LLP, a law firm in New York City which asserts that they
are acting as counsel for the National Music Publishers Association and
The Music Publishers Association of America. They have stated that
guitar tablature hosted on my site violates the copyrights of several of
their clients.
I have long been of the understanding that an original, by-ear
transcription of a song, which is a duplicate of no copyrighted work and
which generally deviates substantially from the work on which it is
based is the property of its transcriber, and not the original composer
of the song. The NMPA and MPA clearly disagree, and are threatening to
send a DMCA letter to my host, as well as pursue other undisclosed legal
actions in the event that I were to fall short of full cooperation with
their demands.
This site has been a part of my life for ten years now, and I honestly
believe that what I'm doing is neither illegal nor harmful to the music
publishing industry. My site generates interest in playing music, which
can only lead to more purchases of licensed sheet music. In addition, I
have referred tens of thousands of dollars in licensed sheet music sales
to my affiliates over the years. The notion that a musician serious
enough to spend $30 on a sheet music book would instead settle for a
by-ear tablature interpretation seems unlikely to me. While highly paid
lawyers may easily be able to use corrupt, recently-manipulated and
poorly-tested copyright law to suggest that I am violating the law, the
argument that I have actually damaged their industry in the process
seems ludicrous.
http://www.guitartabs.com/nmpa.php
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