Should Tab Sites Be Legal?

[thebigcheese]

I sort of understand that if you can just look up a tab, they won't make money off a tab book. But how many artists actually bother putting their music in songbooks? I bought one once because I was sick of having all the wrong tabs.

But really, this is like if I had to pay to use the XY miking technique. Someone else invented it, and they told us all how to do it so we could get better. Same thing with music. I wouldn't get any better if I couldn't study how other people do it. Most of them just need to get over themselves. They aren't the best there's ever been, and there's bound to be someone better eventually anyway. You aren't stopping that by keeping tabs off the internet.

 

[danny.guitar]

LOL ... no ... the legality issue is that it's a copyright infringement!!!

Copyright infringement would be scanning the sheet music from books and distributing it on the internet.

Most tabs are made by people who sit down and learn the song by ear. They are interpretations. That isn't copyright infringement.

 

[random.hero]

LOL ... no ... the legality issue is that it's a copyright infringement!!!

i know, i was joking and i hope u understood that too.

and +1 for danny.guitar's response ^

 

[D_Vincent]

I think tab sites should be legal...the internet is changing the world and people are not using printed material as much anymore...for instance would you buy a dictionary or encyclopedia?...I wouldnt because i can just go online and find what im looking for...not sure where the net is leading us in regards to sharing info and entertainment however i know it has to be hurting companies selling these products.

 

[famous beagle]

Copyright infringement would be scanning the sheet music from books and distributing it on the internet.

Most tabs are made by people who sit down and learn the song by ear. They are interpretations. That isn't copyright infringement.

You, sir, are incorrect!

 

[famous beagle]

Copyright infringement would be scanning the sheet music from books and distributing it on the internet.

Most tabs are made by people who sit down and learn the song by ear. They are interpretations. That isn't copyright infringement.

Ok, let me see if I can make this more clear.

What if someone handcopied a piece of sheet music and then posted it on the web as their "interpretation" of the song? Is that legal?

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. It's not that they're ripping off the sheet music company. They're ripping off the artist by placing their music, in a written form, on the web for mass distribution. You have to pay the artists for the rights to print their music. Publishing companies do this; kids on the web don't.

It doesn't matter that it could be a poor transcription of the song. The fact that they say "this is Smoke on the Water" and then provide the music for it (in written form) is copyright infringement.

 

[famous beagle]

Copyright infringement would be scanning the sheet music from books and distributing it on the internet.

Most tabs are made by people who sit down and learn the song by ear. They are interpretations. That isn't copyright infringement.

You're right though about the scanning music from a book being copyright infringement. It's just a different kind than providing your own tab.

 

[thebigcheese]

I have to disagree with famous.beagle about being able to pick anything up by ear if you listen closely enough. There are many reasons this is not easy. If there are many parts going at the same time, it can be extremely difficult to pick out exactly what one of those parts is doing. Second, let's say you're trying to figure out a Dragonforce solo. Good luck with that.

On the one hand, I can see that tabs are problematic in that you could potentially be posting the sheet music on the web for free and it's impossible to police this on an individual basis. But I don't think that should make tab sites illegal. If I can pick up a song by ear, does that mean I'm infringing on copyrights? If I'm playing someone else's song in my room, do I have to pay them? Of course not. I'm not making any money off that and no one's making money off tab sites (except maybe the hosts through ads).

Let's think about it this way. Tabs are "for educational purposes". When I make movies for school, I don't have to contact the record companies to use a song in my soundtrack because my video is "for educational purposes". The library is allowed to scan and post documents on the web "for educational purposes" for students.

Music is supposed to be a collective art. If we keep this up, there won't be any left.

 

[Mish]

I hate tabs full-stop, not that I ever bothered to learn to de-crypt them. I find it easier to learn the song using my ears, and even if I don't get the riffs 100% close to the original it makes it sound more "my version" of it.

Kinda like what Zakk Wylde does with pretty much anything he covers. His "War Pigs" version is so much better than Black Sabbath's! (IMO )

 

[taropatch]

Why not have something like itunes so we don't have to buy a whole tab book? I'm for getting the music out there and played... but the artists should be compensated for their work.

 

[BrentDomann]

Taropatch,

Last time I was in the guitar shop I saw these new CDs they sell of a single, with the tab, rhythm tracks, tracks minus other instruments, etc.

They are charging $12.

 

[Coughmist]

I think that we should make everything illegal. especially trying to figure out how to play the guitar. May god shame anyone who has ever played a riff that resembles enter sandman. And anyone whom has ever played a 1 4 5 chord progression. God thought of it first. And he has copyrighted it.


Let there be C Major. and let it be represented as:
--0---
--1---
--0---
--2---
--3---
------

And it was good.
© God.


physics 101 should also be illegal. How dare they write "Newton's" Laws in a book and try to teach people how gravity works.

I think downloading music is much easier than stealing a collection of numbers on lines and trying to reproduce it on my own, anyway.

I thought this was the land of the free. Not the land of the free to do what they let you do.

 

[famous beagle]

I think that we should make everything illegal. especially trying to figure out how to play the guitar. May god shame anyone who has ever played a riff that resembles enter sandman. And anyone whom has ever played a 1 4 5 chord progression. God thought of it first. And he has copyrighted it.


Let there be C Major. and let it be represented as:
--0---
--1---
--0---
--2---
--3---
------

And it was good.
© God.


physics 101 should also be illegal. How dare they write "Newton's" Laws in a book and try to teach people how gravity works.

I think downloading music is much easier than stealing a collection of numbers on lines and trying to reproduce it on my own, anyway.

I thought this was the land of the free. Not the land of the free to do what they let you do.

You're right. People shouldn't be compensated for what they do. When someone writes a novel, it should immediately become public domain and put on the internet for everyone to download for FREE!!!

This is the land of the FREE!!! Yipee!

 

[Coughmist]

You're right. People shouldn't be compensated for what they do. When someone writes a novel, it should immediately become public domain and put on the internet for everyone to download for FREE!!!

This is the land of the FREE!!! Yipee!

In my opinion, there is a difference between writing a novel from scratch and composing an interpretation of another's art. I think many books have been written on this idea. Interpretation of another's art. How many people have made a living on breaking things down to their simplest form so that people can see it and learn from it?

If downloading tabs and learning to play songs this way helps a person to become a better guitarist, more power to them. Just because they learn how to play a metallica riff does not mean that they are stealing anyone's business.

And yes, after a certain amount of time (not immediately)I do believe a novel should be public domain. Public librarys are great.

 

[famous beagle]

In my opinion, there is a difference between writing a novel from scratch and composing an interpretation of another's art. I think many books have been written on this idea. Interpretation of another's art. How many people have made a living on breaking things down to their simplest form so that people can see it and learn from it?

If downloading tabs and learning to play songs this way helps a person to become a better guitarist, more power to them. Just because they learn how to play a metallica riff does not mean that they are stealing anyone's business.

And yes, after a certain amount of time (not immediately)I do believe a novel should be public domain. Public librarys are great.

Because a book is in a public library doesn't mean it's public domain. It means the library has bought the book.

And no they're not stealing anyone's business by learning to play a metallica riff; anyone can learn how to play a metallica riff. The way that Metallica is losing business is that people are posting their music for free on the internet, whereas before the net, if you wanted to learn the riff and weren't savy enough to learn it by ear, you had a few choices:

1) Buy the music
2) Find a friend who's bought the music (this is still home use and not widespread distribution)
3) Find a friend who could teach you the song

If someone were to take a Metallica book that they had bought, make copies of it and give it to all their friends, then technically, they'd be breaking the law. But just like making "mix tapes" back in the 80s for friends was illegal as well, this is the kind of law that's ridiculously impractical to enforce. But with the internet, things are of a much different scope. Suddenly you have the ability to reach millions of people. And suddenly all the money that artists used to make selling sheet music is dwindling fast because of it.

Like it or not, right or wrong, that's a lot of compensation they're losing.

 

[potthoff]

the songbooks are just as wrong as the tabs if you want to learn a song the best way to do it is to figure it out for your self.

 

[famous beagle]

the songbooks are just as wrong as the tabs if you want to learn a song the best way to do it is to figure it out for your self.

Some of them are, yes. But many of them are very good.

 

[solo2racr]

It doesn't really matter if tabs are legal or not. What it REALLY comes down to is weather the record companies/artists are losing money or not. If tabs are illegal, then so should be playing covers. I think the record companies/artists look at it this way. If a local band learns a song by whatever means and plays it in public, who's CD do you think the public will buy? The local bands (If they have one at all) or the real deal?

Besides, most tabs are so far off from what they are TRYING to copy, theres no infringement going on at all. They could almost be called original

 

[JTC111]

Brian: Man, I'm so jonesing for the T-A-B right now.
Steve: Alright. I get it. I shouldn't have asked you to try something new. You can quit punishing me now.
Brian: Why would I punish you Steve, when it's you who released me from a Tab-free prison of my own design, and led me to the discovery of my new favorite beverage... TAB?



Sorry. I just had to.
If you don't dig Sarah Silverman's show, just go on quietly to the next post.

BTW, I vote yes on tabs... screw the money changers

 

[Coughmist]

just my opinion...

I think there should be some type of salary cap for musicians in most cases. I know most will probably bust my balls on this, but I stopped buying any stp related materials because I was tired of Scott Weiland using my money for an excuse to entire drug rehab... over... and over... and over...

Sure, some musicians are not like this, but i mean come on. I am tired of one-hit wonders jumping on the radio and thinking they are hot shit because the made a couple million. If they stopped paying these mofos so much, we might get music from people that actually enjoy playing it... and not just from people looking to make a quick buck.

Kyle: Cartman, you don't know anything about the Bible!
Eric Cartman: I know enough to exploit it.


in the beginning, i bought many tab books, some not having the ones i was looking for so i downloaded them. i could always hear what i wanted to play, but until i could associate the music with where to put my fingers, i was hopeless (or at least it felt that way.)I don't download tabs anymore. i don't buy music books. i don't need to. i can't play anything perfect the first time, but though my experience, however i reached it, i can usually pull off most things.

I agree that back in the day the only way to do it was listening or asking people or buying the music. but it is 2008. there are a shit load more people out there, and with that comes a shit load of potential for some really great music. I would hate to see somebody's creativity not being aspired due to money issues.


Eric Cartman: [singing] I want to get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus. I want to feel his salvation all over my face.
so blasphemous!