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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Announcement: Tabs Of Copyrighted Somgs

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jun 25 2008, 01:59 PM

Dear all,

In a couple of threads in the last 24 hours we have had discussions about publishing of tabs on GMC for various reasons - the moderators have brought this to Kris attention and we have discussed what we can and can't do from a legal standpoint. So, here are the guidelines that came out of this - we'd be grateful if you could help us by keeping these in mind!

In general, posting a tab of a copyrighted song, even if it is your interpretation is a legal grey area. The record companies believe that they have the rights to the tabs and have on many occasions forced sites to stop publishing tabs by issuing cease and desist letters. Whilst there are fair use exclusions in copyright law, these are limited, and it is not clear how far even an educational site such as GMC could go. Claiming that a tab is your own interpretation doesn't impress the recrd companies, even though this may not have been tested in law, they will certainly try to enforce their copyright even in this case. These guidelines are about preventing GMC falling foul of any of these areas, and potentialy being told to cease and desist, or worse, being shut down for copyright infringement. So with that in mind, here are the guidelines!

1. Tabs of your own music, or music that is not copyrighted, or music for which you own the copyright are absolutely fine to post for any reason

2. Long or full length tabs of copyrighted songs are to be avoided, and shouldn't be posted in any form on GMC.

2. Small snippets of tabs - lets say a couple of bars, to ask questions on techniques, how to play, or if you have transcribed correctly are still technically copyrigh violations, so please keep these to a minimum and use them only if the purpose is clearly educational.

That's it - thanks for reading!

Regards,

Andrew, Kris and the Moderator Team

Posted by: steve25 Jun 25 2008, 02:09 PM

Good points, although doesn't copyright only stand for a maximum of 25 years? Or am i maistaking this for trademark? I believe copyright has to be renewed every 5 years with the initial starting copyright lasting for 5 years. So if it is a fairly old song i think copyright no longer stands on it.

Also sites like UG are in an area where the tab copyright does not apply to them so accessing tabs is fine from there. If you buy tab though could you then put some of it here on GMC you know for educational purposes because you've bought legal tab? I take it putting in the style of with similar tabs would not be illegal and doing covers for educational purposes only would also not be illegal.

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Jun 25 2008, 02:12 PM

QUOTE (steve25 @ Jun 25 2008, 02:09 PM) *
Good points, although doesn't copyright only stand for a maximum of 25 years? Or am i maistaking this for trademark? I believe copyright has to be renewed every 5 years with the initial starting copyright lasting for 5 years. So if it is a fairly old song i think copyright no longer stands on it.

Also sites like UG are in an area where the tab copyright does not apply to them so accessing tabs is fine from there. If you buy tab though could you then put some of it here on GMC you know for educational purposes because you've bought legal tab? I take it putting in the style of with similar tabs would not be illegal and doing covers for educational purposes only would also not be illegal.

Copyright lasts for something like 70 years after the artist passes away I think.

Posted by: DeepRoots Jun 25 2008, 02:14 PM

Many people would like to bring down UG, but i believe the servers are in Russia- so the big American labels can't touch them.

And yeh im fairly sure its 70 years after the death of the composer.

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jun 25 2008, 02:18 PM

QUOTE (steve25 @ Jun 25 2008, 09:09 AM) *
Good points, although doesn't copyright only stand for a maximum of 25 years? Or am i maistaking this for trademark? I believe copyright has to be renewed every 5 years with the initial starting copyright lasting for 5 years. So if it is a fairly old song i think copyright no longer stands on it.

Also sites like UG are in an area where the tab copyright does not apply to them so accessing tabs is fine from there. If you buy tab though could you then put some of it here on GMC you know for educational purposes because you've bought legal tab? I take it putting in the style of with similar tabs would not be illegal and doing covers for educational purposes only would also not be illegal.


Hi Steve, some good points here!

The renewal and 25 years thing sound more like a trademark. Copyright is held for a number of yeras (I believe it is 70?) after the writers death. This is why we can publish lessons of classical music but not more modern songs.

For UG - by all means post links to tabs there - that is the same as posting a link to YouTube, but just because it is legal where UG is doesn't mean its legal to view it where GMC is, so bear that in mind. Also, even if you have bought a tab, its YOU that bought it not everyone on GMC, so again, please don;t think that is al oophole. That is like saying that you bought a CD legally so its ok to give it to all your friends - not legal in the eyes of the copyright holder.

In the style of is legal since the works are original. Educational exclusions are limited and may not protect GMC. So for all of these reasons, please use the guidelines we have given you!

Posted by: Iluha Jun 25 2008, 02:54 PM

QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Jun 25 2008, 02:59 PM) *
2. Small snippets of tabs - lets say a couple of bars, to ask questions on techniques, how to play, or if you have transcribed correctly are still technically copyrigh violations, so please keep these to a minimum and use them only if the purpose is clearly educational.

That's it - thanks for reading!

Regards,

Andrew, Kris and the Moderator Team


That's what I meant with my idea, I knew that posting an entire song's tab is probably a violation off copyrights, that's why I bolded the word PARTS.

Posted by: Oxac Jun 25 2008, 04:57 PM

I would propose that you could upload pdf or txt or gp files to photobucket/rapidshare or anything, that way, they aren't actually on GMC's servers. GMC would only show you what direction to look in the large interwebs.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 25 2008, 06:37 PM

hmm these are all very clear rules and we should stick to them as much as we can! smile.gif

Posted by: Gus Jun 25 2008, 06:45 PM

I pretty much understand that GMC should act according to law. And I really appreciate that.

Well, I am not from law area or anything. But, to be really fair, I don't think the copyright laws should be applied to tabs...

I mean. If I were a famous artist I would like to have as much as possible lots of people playing correct covers of my songs. Why to keep people away from learning? A tab will not be synthesized into a full song...
Good tabs are only good for the artist. More people playing. More people listening. More sold albums. More people in the shows. I think it is pretty stupid actually... Record companies should provide perfect tabs themselves... mad.gif

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 25 2008, 09:15 PM

Thanks for clarifying Andrew. No tabs, or maybe small fractions if really really necessary.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Jun 25 2008, 11:47 PM

Edited,sorry,I missed few lines in your post Andrew,
it IS gray area and it wouldn't be wise to dig too deep. smile.gif

Posted by: Nemanja Filipovic Jun 25 2008, 11:49 PM

Thanks for the clear answer Andrew.smile.gif

Posted by: IDontWantMyUsername Jun 26 2008, 12:34 AM

Stupid copyright law. I love tabbing songs, and now I can't show them to anyone! ohmy.gif dry.gif

Posted by: Gerardo Siere Jun 26 2008, 01:14 AM

By the way, I´m also a lawer and you must know that publishing scans of printed music even free music isn´t also legal as you are getting profit or avoiding the publishing getting proffit for their work, it is not a copyright thing, is a publish rights thing.

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