First MP3s, now tablature: Music publishers take legal action

Web sites offering chords and lyrics to popular songs have been effectively shut down by the music publishing industry for copyright infringement.

These sites share songs through tablature, a form of sheet music made specifically for guitar and bass players, and a mainstay of beginning musicians. While some music publishers sell official tab versions of their songs, most people use free sites such as Olga.net or GuitarTabs.com to get amateur versions of tabs posted by fellow guitar players.

“I don’t need tabs as much anymore, but people learning guitar really rely on them,” said Ron Alig, a music major.

The intent of tab sites was to allow people to pool their knowledge of music and help guitar players improve. But the National Music Publishers’ Association and the Music Publisher’s Association saw them as violators of copyright law.

This summer, the trade association gave the Web sites an ultimatum: Remove the tabs or face legal repercussions.

Under current U.S. law, copyright holders have exclusive rights to reproduce and prepare derivatives of their work. This means tablature of copyrighted songs, regardless of accuracy, cannot be given away without permission from the copyright holder.

“They are facilitating copyright infringement by providing a medium through which copyrighted materials may be exchanged without paying a royalty,” said Robert Dybing, a trial lawyer for the Richmond firm Thompson & McMullan, P.C. and an adjunct professor of communication law at VCU.

“From my limited perspective, neither the Web site nor the posters have a claim to fair use,” Dybing said. “It would appear to be blatant infringement.”

The free tab sites have complied with the NMPA and MPA’s demands, and it is unlikely they can muster the financial resources to challenge the music publishing industry.

“Much depends on the practicalities of bringing or responding to a suit,” said Cathal Woods, operator of Olga.net and a philosophy professor at Virginia Weslyan College. “In particular, you need a lot of money. We’re not very business-inclined.”

It is also unlikely the tab sites would return as fee-based businesses and distribute officially licensed tabs in exchange for a small sum.

“The NMPA/MPA have refused to give any licensing information,” said Woods. “So if there is a legal archive, with or without fees, in the U.S., it will have to be for indie artists.”

Not everyone who plays guitar, however, is concerned.

Because amateurs write the tabs posted on free Web sites, they often contain mistakes, and sometimes are completely wrong. For those who teach guitar, the inaccuracy of free guitar tablature is a frustrating aspect of the business.

Benjamin Joyner, a guitar instructor at Guitar Works in Carytown, writes his own tabs rather than let his students download potentially erroneous ones.

Joyner, who played guitar for a decade and taught it for four years, said the legal action “might help,” adding that “a lot of tabs are wrong.”

Consequently, many of his students learn incorrect versions of songs, which Joyner then has to correct.

But Alig, who has played guitar for eight years, said he hopes to see free tab Web sites survive.

“But it’s hard to tell,” he said.