James Delahunty
9 Dec 2005 7:17
Obviously getting fed up with suing file sharers for sharing their music files, the music industry is now looking to target sites that offer "unauthorised" lyrics and unlicensed song scores. The Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, said it will launch its first campaign against such sites in 2006. However, lawsuits alone aren't good enough for the MPA. MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.
He told the BBC that these sites that are widely available on the Internet are completely illegal. He said he didn't just want to shut down the sites and impose fines, saying if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective". Publishing companies have taken legal action against some sites in the past but this is the first co-ordinated effort by the MPA.
"The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income," Mr Keiser said. "But now the Internet is taking more of a bite out of sheet music and printed music sales so we're taking a more proactive stance." David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, added his concerns. "Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said. "Music publishers and songwriters will consider all tools under the law to stop this illegal behaviour."
Yesterday we reported that UK-based Warner Chappell forced down PearLyrics, which worked with iTunes to search lyrics on the Internet for songs in a user's playlist. "I just don't see why PearLyrics should infringe the copyright of Warner Chappell because all I'm doing is searching publicly-available websites," PearLyrics developer Walter Ritter said. "It would be different if they had an alternative service that also provided lyrics online and also integrated [with iTunes] like PearLyrics did. But they don't offer anything like that at all."
Source:
BBC News