Guitar Tabs Illegal?

[Ashiakin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5305520.stm

If you're unfamiliar with guitar tabs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablature

Recently, the Music Publishers' Association of the United States (which represents US sheet music publishing companies) sent legal notices to several websites that provide guitar tabs. They claim that guitar tabs are illegal and amount to copyright infringement because they don't allow for money to flow to the songs' creators. Even though the vast majority of online guitar tabs are only one person's interpretation of a song, and many of them are wrong, MPA president Lauren Keiser says, "U.S. copyright law provides that the right to make and distribute an arrangement, adaptation, abridgment or transcription of a copyrighted work such as a song belongs to the copyright owner of that work."

I know we have a lot of guitarists on Althanas. What does everyone think? Is the MPA correct or is this just another example of the music industry going too far?

[Torin Reahkari]

I'm pretty sure this has a lot to do with the fact that the music industry isn't earning half of what they used to, simply because of the ease of downloading. So now they'll rip at anything they can get to to get more money.

Myself, I'll buy an album every once in a while to support bands I really like. But otherwise, I just download. If I like one song off an album, I'm not paying 15 bucks for just that song.

Tabs should be allowed, as it is only an interpretation.

[Sighter Tnailog]

It's like saying that "Musee de Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden is illegal because he didn't ask the painter's permission before writing a poem about it.

[Soveliss]

Hm,

I don't think they should be and would never have treated them as being illegal. If they were copied from a tab book exactly, then yes. But I'd say 90% of guitar tabs aren't always 100|% correct, and thus aren't really copyrighted material.

...or i may be wrong, which happens frequently.

[Cyrus the virus]

Hey, on the bright side, there'll be less people around who think they can play guitar. Any old bastard can try to play Stairway right now

More seriously, though, I don't much care for it. If you can't read tabs, you'll learn by ear, and how different is that? All banning tabs would do is get rid of the convenience for people who don't read music.

[Arvis]

The musicians should be honored that other people want to try and learn how to play THEIR songs.

Next they are going to try and make it illegal for people to put lyrics to songs on the internet.

[Damion Shargath]

The musicians should be honored that other people want to try and learn how to play THEIR songs.

Next they are going to try and make it illegal for people to put lyrics to songs on the internet.

Agreed, I see it coming...Then again, in my genre, there are enough bands who put their Tabs on their sites...

[Sighter Tnailog]

I think the next thing we should ban are ears. Ears just cause too much trouble. With ears, you might hear a song that wasn't purchased. With ears, you might overhear a place where you can learn how to play great songs for free. I mean, ears are very dangerous for the bottom line.

[LordLeopold]

Personally, I think the MPA has a point. The RIAA and the MPA have enough trouble on their hands without worrying about a bunch of teenagers stealing their intellectual property.

[Molotov]

Personally, I think the MPA has a point. The RIAA and the MPA have enough trouble on their hands without worrying about a bunch of teenagers stealing their intellectual property.

Finally, someone who agrees with me. Personally, I would never want to buy a record if all I had to do to buy a song would be to learn a musical instrument, find a tab site and then learn how to play it!

This is the sole reason record sales have been suffering. Thank god for laws!