Olga is off-line for legal issues

This is the place to talk about guitar playing not done by Dave! Topics about techniques, styles, theory, and other guitarists go here.

Moderators: onid41, jkanter

colorado5117
Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:34 pm
Location: Colorado Springs
Contact:

Olga is off-line for legal issues

Unread post by colorado5117 » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:32 pm

I've seen others mention that some lawyers are going after tab sites...

Olga has this warning up.
OLGA is currently offline while we resolve legal issues with the archive. We greatly appreciate your support and hope to return to providing resources to the aspiring guitarist as soon as possible.

Just curious if this site has been contacted?

Update: OLGA has more detail on why they are down.
Last edited by colorado5117 on Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
c_tietze
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2245
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: Anytown USA
Contact:

Unread post by c_tietze » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:40 pm

I just don't see how an interpretation of a piece of live music can be legally protected?

What the fuck, big brother is watching.

Orwell wasn't that far off.
~ And rain washed away all her tears and I smiled done away was the sum of all my fears ~

jalapena
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:09 pm

Unread post by jalapena » Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:02 pm

screw the 'Man', greedy bitches

User avatar
taparoo
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 8203
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:22 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": There are five different types of chairs in this hotel room.

Unread post by taparoo » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:42 pm

So has guitartabs.cc, one of the places I went to frequently for tabs. What is this world coming to? Sad, sad, sad...

User avatar
Lbacker
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2443
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:06 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": Dr. Peter Venkman: I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule.
Location: Omaha

Unread post by Lbacker » Sun Aug 06, 2006 5:44 pm

when do ya think ultimate-guitar.com will go? damn i will be pissssed if it does. :twisted:

User avatar
taparoo
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 8203
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:22 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": There are five different types of chairs in this hotel room.

Unread post by taparoo » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:26 pm

I like the message on the front page of guitartabs.cc:





July 17, 2006

To all "Guitar Tab Universe" visitors:

The company which owns this website has been indirectly threatened (via our ISP) with legal action by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) as well as the Music Publishers' Association (MPA) on the basis that sharing tablature constitutes copyright infringement. At what point does describing how one plays a song on guitar become an issue of copyright infringment? This website, among other things, helps users teach eachother how they play guitar parts for many different songs. This is the way music teachers have behaved since the first music was ever created. The difference here is that the information is shared by way of a new technology: the Internet.

When you are jamming with a friend and you show him/her the chords for a song you heard on the radio, is that copyright infringement? What about if you helped him/her remember the chord progression or riff by writing it down on, say, a napkin... infringement? If he/she calls you later that night on the phone or e-mails you and you respond via one of those methods, are you infringing? I don't know... but I would really like to know. If anyone has information on this, please email support@guitartabs.cc.

Apparently, the NMPA/MPA believes that the Internet may be on the foul side of the legality line they would like to draw here. For me, I see no difference. It's teachers educating students and covered as a 'fair use' of the tablature. The teachers here don't even get paid nor do the students have to pay this website to access the lessons.

An attack on this website is really an attack on every one of you who have told someone (in person, or via the written word, telephone, or e-mail) how you play a song on guitar. And who, especially among small websites, has the deep pockets to fight the NMPA/MPA? They use scare tactics while there is, in fact, no legal precedent on this matter (to the best of our knowledge). If you are interested in expressing your opinion to the NMPA/MPA, contact them via their respective websites. Please do not resort to vulgar language or insults.

Millions of people use the Internet to learn guitar, in one form or another. It appears the NMPA/MPA and their members do not want to support us and help us further our education. To you visitors from outside the USA or UK, can you find your favorite artists' "official sheet music" at your local music store? Even in the United States and United Kingdom, we often can not. The NMPA/MPA have a choice to make: either they support us as aspiring guitarists, or they choose to alienate their customer base. To date, not one sheet music publisher has contacted this website to either inquire as to our activities or to express interest in any type of dialogue or collaboration whatsoever. All we deserve is a cold, indirect, impersonal threat without any explanation? They should embrace new technologies or else become relics of the old economy.

Since I'm now 'worried' about working around tabs at all, I'm in a tough situation! Luckily, I'm fairly confident that if I alone listen to a song and then figure out how to play it by ear, I will then be able to enjoy using that knowledge to practice and improve my guitar playing skills. Is that what is necessary for everyone to do? Work these things out alone? What a sad situation.

Sincerely,
Rob Balch

Manager of "Guitar Tab Universe"

User avatar
Lbacker
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2443
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:06 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": Dr. Peter Venkman: I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule.
Location: Omaha

Unread post by Lbacker » Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:09 pm

not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.

Appfro
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 30050
Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: NC
Contact:

Unread post by Appfro » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:31 pm

i guess i just don't understand what the company is losing, company, artist, anyone, is losing by having a tab up for the song. i can at least see why they don't want people downloading songs for free, or sharing albums, that stuff makes sense to me, but tabs? i just don't get it, it really makes sick to my stomach. i hate corporations.

colorado5117
Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:34 pm
Location: Colorado Springs
Contact:

Unread post by colorado5117 » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:31 pm

Lbacker wrote:not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.
whether or not one charges for the copy has no bearing on whether a copyright violation has occured. Its all about if you can copy without the authors permission.
09/11/05, 09/13/06, D&T 4/21/07

-an indignant f***ing noob

User avatar
Lbacker
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2443
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:06 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": Dr. Peter Venkman: I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule.
Location: Omaha

Unread post by Lbacker » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:35 pm

colorado5117 wrote:
Lbacker wrote:not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.
whether or not one charges for the copy has no bearing on whether a copyright violation has occured. Its all about if you can copy without the authors permission.
but money is the driving force here. The artists are trying to reap as much money as they can from their music. Which is ok, but lets not do a witch hunt.

Appfro
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 30050
Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: NC
Contact:

Unread post by Appfro » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:39 pm

Lbacker wrote:
colorado5117 wrote:
Lbacker wrote:not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.
whether or not one charges for the copy has no bearing on whether a copyright violation has occured. Its all about if you can copy without the authors permission.
but money is the driving force here. The artists are trying to reap as much money as they can from their music. Which is ok, but lets not do a witch hunt.
but basically unreleased interpretation is fair game. if i steal a tab from an eric clapton tab book and release it, then that's copyright infringement. but if i listen/watch an eric clapton song/video and come up w/ my own interpretation, that's not infringement. its just not. it's my own interpretation, i'm not making money off of it, i'm not selling it, and i'm not claiming the song is mine nor am i trying to make money off of the song. unless these companies are planning on making tab books on every single song made from here on out, there is just no way they are losing any money by tab sites.

User avatar
Lbacker
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2443
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:06 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": Dr. Peter Venkman: I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule.
Location: Omaha

Unread post by Lbacker » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:46 pm

Appfro wrote:
Lbacker wrote:
colorado5117 wrote:
Lbacker wrote:not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.
whether or not one charges for the copy has no bearing on whether a copyright violation has occured. Its all about if you can copy without the authors permission.
but money is the driving force here. The artists are trying to reap as much money as they can from their music. Which is ok, but lets not do a witch hunt.
but basically unreleased interpretation is fair game. if i steal a tab from an eric clapton tab book and release it, then that's copyright infringement. but if i listen/watch an eric clapton song/video and come up w/ my own interpretation, that's not infringement. its just not. it's my own interpretation, i'm not making money off of it, i'm not selling it, and i'm not claiming the song is mine nor am i trying to make money off of the song. unless these companies are planning on making tab books on every single song made from here on out, there is just no way they are losing any money by tab sites.
yah but its not the same. Tab sites get advertising deals from the amount of traffic on their website. The traffic is from guitarists looking to play their artists faviorate songs. If weren't for the song tabs then no traffic and no money.

Its a witch hunt. Artists are going after ever concivable way to get money back to them. I don't agree, but saying this is the same as copying down something you see and using it for personal use is incorrect.

What the music companies are saying is if Eric clapton would have not played that unrelseased song you saw on tv, then the websites would not be making money. The muscians want you going to their website for the tabs; I can only assume thats the backbone of this. possible paying for them

Appfro
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 30050
Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: NC
Contact:

Unread post by Appfro » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:58 pm

Lbacker wrote:
Appfro wrote:
Lbacker wrote:
colorado5117 wrote:
Lbacker wrote:not really the same as telling a friend on the phone or over email. This is different because the tab site makes money from advertisements that make money from the music written by artists. Sorry dude; its not the same. Sucks hard though.
whether or not one charges for the copy has no bearing on whether a copyright violation has occured. Its all about if you can copy without the authors permission.
but money is the driving force here. The artists are trying to reap as much money as they can from their music. Which is ok, but lets not do a witch hunt.
but basically unreleased interpretation is fair game. if i steal a tab from an eric clapton tab book and release it, then that's copyright infringement. but if i listen/watch an eric clapton song/video and come up w/ my own interpretation, that's not infringement. its just not. it's my own interpretation, i'm not making money off of it, i'm not selling it, and i'm not claiming the song is mine nor am i trying to make money off of the song. unless these companies are planning on making tab books on every single song made from here on out, there is just no way they are losing any money by tab sites.
yah but its not the same. Tab sites get advertising deals from the amount of traffic on their website. The traffic is from guitarists looking to play their artists faviorate songs. If weren't for the song tabs then no traffic and no money.

Its a witch hunt. Artists are going after ever concivable way to get money back to them. I don't agree, but saying this is the same as copying down something you see and using it for personal use is incorrect.

What the music companies are saying is if Eric clapton would have not played that unrelseased song you saw on tv, then the websites would not be making money. The muscians want you going to their website for the tabs; I can only assume thats the backbone of this. possible paying for them
well then why can't they ask for a portion of the profits? i don't understand the reasoning behind shutting them down. then no one's making money. i'm taking my ball and going home? that's the only mentality i can think of that could be going through their minds. fucking stupid.

colorado5117
Posts: 65
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:34 pm
Location: Colorado Springs
Contact:

Unread post by colorado5117 » Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:26 am

i'll bet the threats are just step one in a negotitation to get all sites to give the original artist a cut. The way i see it, if I listen/watch a song and tab it out and then realease the tab as my interpretation = no copyright violation. If I release it as the official tab = copyright violation.
09/11/05, 09/13/06, D&T 4/21/07

-an indignant f***ing noob

User avatar
Lbacker
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2443
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:06 am
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": Dr. Peter Venkman: I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule.
Location: Omaha

Unread post by Lbacker » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:19 am

Lets just pray that others don't get shut down soon. I have prepared a tab booklet with like everykind of music I play with tons of bands; its a huge binder. I bet it will be worth 100's of dollars soon. hahaa

Post Reply

Return to “General Guitar Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 150 guests