Posting lyrics and scores online is a crime!

[--Pete]

Hi,

And then we could discuss it with the cows . . .
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Who's opinions are probably as valid as ours ;)

As far as I understand this article, websites providing people the lyrics from songs are apparently breaking the law. That, to me, spells w-r-o-n-g.

Hmm. So, if I post just the text of a book that is under copyright, that's OK? After all, I'm not posting the cover art, the illustrations, the critical blurbs, etc. Or, perhaps, since a book is a text item, then it is OK for me to make my own audio version of the book and sell that (or even distribute it for free).

Remember, even the movie rights to a book must be bought from the copyright holder, in spite that the movie will eventually share little more than the title and name of the main character with the book.

What I did, was to open a notepad-file, sit down and listen, bar by bar, write down in notepad what I had just heard. I then put this piece of work (took me a few hours to do, so I call it "work", even though it was great fun!) on The Internet®. Now, somewhere along the line, I committed a crime.

Yep. You are entitled to extract the lyrics, music, etc., for your own use. You may play and sing the song in non-commercial environments (i.e., just for yourself, at a private party, etc.). You may not distribute any part of the material while it is under copyright. Since anything posted on the Internet (which is not a registered trademark :) ) is effectively copyable by anyone in the know, posting your extraction of the material was a form of distribution. No different, in principle, from buying a copy of the sheet music and selling xerox (ex-trademark, now in the public domain (I think)) copies of it.

Once again -- it ALL belongs to the creator of the work and only he has the right to give it away.

--Pete