Guitar Tab Universe
Thanks to my buddy Noah for bringing this one to my attention – total BULLSHIT!
Title: read this!
From: Noah
Sent: Sat 9/08/07 3:03 PM
What a fuckin shitter. No wonder I have’nt be able to find any good
guitar tab sites. They’re all links that take you to other links that
don’t have anything to do w/ guitar. It’s the big greedy machine
trying to control every goddamn good thing in the world they can get
their grimey pig hooves on. This country is lame…..I’m bailing
faggy hitler salute…..out
<<<>>>
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@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.
Sincerely,
Rob Balch
Manager of “Guitar Tab Universe”
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