We've written about this topic a few times, annoyed that the copyright thugs stopped us from learning new songs. The MusicNotes site was supposed to have launched last summer, I suppose convincing ASCAP/BMI to relinquish control has been more difficult than first assumed.
Last year, Olga shut down on what Mr. Meyer recalls as a "black day," after the National Music Publishers Association sent the Web site a letter objecting to its posting songs without permission. Robert Cathal Woods, a philosophy professor at Virginia Wesleyan College, who ran Olga from 1994 until last year, didn't answer requests for comment. Dozens of other smaller tab sites stepped in to fill the void: Mr. Meyer recently used Google to find a note-for-note transcription of the guitar solo from the jazzy Steely Dan tune "Kid Charlemagne." But despite its size, the online trade in guitar tabs has generally been viewed as operating on thin legal ice.
Now, the music industry is looking to replicate the popularity of amateur tab sites -- and get paid.
Two advertising-supported Web sites -- one from Guitar World magazine, another from the online sheet-music seller MusicNotes Inc. -- have secured permissions from some publishers and are in talks with others to post guitar tabs of copyrighted songs. In exchange, the sites are offering to pay publishers an undisclosed cut of ad revenue.
The sites, set to launch in early 2008, plan to offer user-generated tabs at no charge. On Guitar World's site, users submit tabs using a list of licensed artists and songs, so the site can avoid unlicensed postings. MusicNotes plans to let users ask whether a given song is cleared for posting before they submit.
[From Crib Sheets for Guitar Heroes - WSJ.com]
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Still ridiculous on its face, 98 percent of the files on OLGA, for instance, were created by guitarists listening intently to the song, and laboriously transcribing what they heard. Not always accurate, but good enough to get by. Like going to a guitar (or bass) teacher, and learning to play a song. Copyright lawyers are ruining this country. - comments closed due to spam rats
