Rattle wrote:

Matthew sez, "According to this BBC News story, Warner Chappell's legal threats against the creator of PearLyrics are just a preview of a campaign to be launched in 2006 by the Music Publishers Association. The MPA is seeking to take lyrics and tabs sites offline and-- get this-- 'Mr Keiser said he did not just want to shut websites and impose fines, saying if authorities can 'throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective'.'"

This is ridiculous. I don't accept the argument about this cutting into the sales of sheet music. Not only is sheet music for most popular music not available, but when it is, it's way overpriced. You also can't buy by the song. If you want to learn one or two songs off an album, which is almost always the case, you have to pay for an entire collection.

That's actually not true. Sales of sheet music, and all music "publishing" rights, are actually one of the few true revenue sources for the artist as opposed to the record label. Holding on to your publishing rights is Musician 101. Ask A Flock of Seaguls or Paul McCartney what happens when you sell your publishing rights.

You can get single song sheet music and this is actually the most prolific way to buy it. Go into any major music store and there will be a section where you can procure it. I haven't bought anything in a long time, but generally you can get single song sheet music for around $2 per. A bit pricey (especially considering that it was $.50 when I was in high school) but not too bad. Full album song books can run upwards of $45 depending on the artist, but are usually $15-$19 per album.

While I agree that lyrics and notation should be available, this is one of those areas where I think someone should set up a commerce engine so that you can buy it. Right now when you buy an mp3 or whatever, you're paying the record label first, and then maybe the artist gets a cut (depending on their contract). If you were to want to add lyrics and notation, that money would almost go directly to the artist (or writer). I would rather see that happen than the production and marketing company (ie label) get most of the profits from distributing the song.

All of this highlights how anachronistic the whole patron model is for copyright in this day and age. It's like buying a car without getting tires, which you have to get from a separate source and the value chain is different. Stupid.