Copyright Infringement or Fair Use for Educational Purposes?

[tesla]

Music Publishers' Associations are contending that it is illegal to publish individuals' written interpretations of songs (e.g. tablature).

I'm really curious as to what my artistic friends think about this.

I know that I have made extensive use of free online tab myself in the past; it tends to be how I learn to play new chords and new songs. Of course, if published sheet music is available it is preferable, being more accurate, but most of the tab I use is for songs for which it's *not* available.

(In some cases I even pester my favorite musicians about when they will be releasing their long-awaited songbooks, but it hasn't availed me anything yet, now has it, Stephen?)

Comments

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

I first ran across it in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/technology/21ecom.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1156613350-Pw2Yfvl20mGJTaHKnk4OHQ) and then again almost immediately when I went to use OLGA.

NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5622879) has a good audio story on it, and digg picked it up from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm).

The primary reason this torques me off is because if the sheet music/official tab I wanted existed, I would simply buy it. And as you probably know, a lot of the stuff that I'm interested in learning doesn't exist (even in Acoustic Guitar magazine). Much of it will probably never be "officially" written down anywhere, by anyone (including the songwriter). My ideal solution to this is to develop a better ear, but of course that takes time, and right now I'm trying to use the tab as a tool to do exactly that.

Of course, I'm also not thrilled about the broader implications - if I decide that in order to learn to paint, I want to imitate Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, and someone offers me suggestions about technique and use of color, is that a copyright violation? What if they tell me precisely what colors to mix in what ratios? Exactly when does this become a copyright issue?

As a user I really like the idea of a commercial paid/free tab service, with a central catalog of songs. I do suspect that the work involved in determining whether something could be published as "free" might be oppressive.

As a musician, how would you feel about that solution: anyone is allowed to freely distribute their interpretation of your song right up until the day when you publish an "official" version (either on the commercial site or anywhere else)? (http://olga.net/)

[pied-piper70.livejournal.com]

if I decide that in order to learn to paint, I want to imitate Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, and someone offers me suggestions about technique and use of color, is that a copyright violation?

I'm not sure if that's a valid example...Tablature is not just suggestions; tablature is another written representation of music and therefore it can be seen as the music itself by a publisher or by the songwriter...You could find out what type of guitar the performer used, what type of strings they used and how they recorded it; that's all legal, of course...but the music itself? That would fall under copyright...

The only example that would work in this instance is if you were wanting to imitate a Georgia O'Keefe painting, and went to a color copier to print out of a published picture book from the library...Printing that picture would be seen as a violation of copywrite since you didn't pay for the book and therefore didn't pay for the rights to that picture...

Not that any copyright police were going to come and stop you or anything...

Me, personally, I understand the whole copyright law and actually think it's a good thing...but often times, I think they get their undies in a bundle...This most recent uproar is the music industry's big spaz over losing millions of dollars because of the internet...I think it's laughable that NOW they're trying to do something about it, when tab has been around online FOR ALMOST A DECADE! I mean, really, did they NOT think that was going to blow up in their faces?

Yeah, a commercial paid/free tab service would be great...but I guess I have a weird sense of how I'd want my music distrubuted: If I put a recorded track out there, unless it's part of a CD or something, I really don't mind that it gets swapped around - even though I may not get money for the track, it's a good way to advertise my music...

WRITTEN music, on the other hand, is another beast...Personally, I think if you're going to write out tab for a smaller artist, you might do well to go and ask the artist personally if they'd be okay with it...For larger artists, I think it depends - I don't really care about the big names: Rolling Stones, The Who, etc...But the ones who aren't quite as huge might need some consideration...

I also know how much work it takes to do tab, so I almost feel that not only should the artist get paid, but so should the transcriptionist...

This is all about livlihood, after all...Whether they're getting two cents or ninety cents on the dollar, it's still their livlihood (and mine)...

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

I find that tablature - the free tab that I've been using, anyway - is often a pretty loose representation of the music in question. Its rhythmic cues, for example, tend to be vague at best.

So if a more or less vague and potentially highly inaccurate transcription violates the spirit of copyright, then what doesn't? If you teach me how to play someone else's song, is that okay? What if you e-mail the chords to me?

I'm honestly not trying to be difficult, I'm trying to figure out where I'm comfortable with having the line drawn.

FWIW, I'm fanatical about buying the recorded music that I enjoy rather than taking unauthorized copies, precisely because of the livelihood question. Also, it's in my own best interest to pay for the stuff: I enjoy the music, I pay for it, my favorite musicians eat, flourish and live to play another day. Besides which, I think the creators of the music I enjoy deserve my money. (This goes for all of them, no matter how popular or obscure.) The only time that I break this rule is if the music I want is out of print and unavailable.

In principle I feel the same way about written music. In practice, however, the equation looks very different, as relatively little of what I want is published.

Also, I absolutely agree that approaching the artist and asking permission to transcribe is the ideal solution. And bless the fortunate and kind artist who has the time and the inclination to answer.

Finally: yeah, I, too thought it was pretty weird that they decided to get all het up about this when they did and not before. I wonder what happened in whose boardroom to inspire it?