Here is the problem. Guitar tabs websites everywhere are getting shut down for infringing on the artist's rights. Despite many websites fighting, they get nowhere and end up closing. Few have managed to stay up. (And this is most likely because they worked out a deal with the proper rights owners) My question is this. Could you try to do the YouTube scheme, and put up a Wiki for tabs, and not get in trouble? Because, technically, you aren't the one putting up the tabs. The users of the site are. If you put a disclaimer saying that you can't post copyrighted songs, and remove certain wiki posts that the artists demand you to, you can't get in trouble right? Because, rest assured, the tab will come up again from another user, and you are 'trying your best to keep the site legal'. Would this solution work? As for a second question, where would you get the rights to post tabs information? One of the few sites that seem to still be up is http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ ; and they claim that they regularly pay royalties to artists. How would one go about doing this? I get the feeling an email to the RIAA asking to buy rights to artist's tabs won't work. Thoughts?
The trouble is that the vast majority of guitar tabs will be copyright-infringing unless you tell the users that they can only upload their own original music. You might be OK legally if your wiki has substantial non-infringing content. Sites like YouTube and Myspace have been sued for facilitating copyright infringement, and Myspace at least is implementing filters in an attempt to prevent the upload of copyrighted videos and music, and it may turn out that simply being willing to take down infringing material may not be enough to cover your liability. The RIAA is concerned with recordings, not the tabs and sheet music. The Music Publishers Association ( http://www.mpa.org/news/show/5 ) is the place to start.
Thanks a lot, that was very helpful! I added some rep . They actually have a link to contact them, unlike the RIAA, ha. I guess the only way to get around this is to pay. Legal trouble isn't my style .
One more question- can I buy the sheet music online, and then somehow offer it for free? I really doubt there is, but I am very much open to suggestions. I sent the MPA an email and am waiting for a response, but from the looks of it, this will be incredibly expensive to buy rights, judging from some of their articles I read.
You could probably purchase a physical copy of the sheet music and then give away that copy without any legal difficulties. However, purchasing sheet music then making additional copies and distributing those (whether for $$ or not) without a license would be copyright infringement. Here are a couple of other suggestions: - You could try to get a license directly from the copyright holders of the music you are interested in. Note that the copyright holder for the lyrics and music may not be the person or band who actually recorded the song, so it would take some research on your part to find out who to contact. That would require a lot of legwork and still could be expensive. - You could make your wiki about the bands and performers, then link to the links that are freely (and legitimately) available online, for example on the bands' own web sites. I haven't seen tabs or sheet music on those sites though. - Alternatively you could become an "Amazon Associate" and link to the sheet music for sale on amazon.com - you get a small % if people actually purchase after following your link. - You could make a site for songwriters to voluntarily add their lyrics and tabs, sort of in the same way that Myspace lets bands add their recordings. You would probably have to give some kind of incentive for songwriters to do this. There may be other options if you are creative.