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Last edited by jrethorst; 04-24-2025 at 11:50 AM. Reason: out of date
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02-15-2020 03:41 PM
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Have these arrangers given you written permission for giving their work away for free? Are the composers who qualify for royalties getting paid by you, or have they waived their rights? Seriously, I would like to know.
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I was wondering the same.
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This is one of many collections. See A-Z Guitar Tabs - ( 200,000 TAB ARCHIVE ), Guitar Tab Universe - Welcome to GuitarTabs.cc!, FreeTabs Disclaimer, ULTIMATE TABS 1 Million songs with Guitar Tabs, Chords, Ukulele Chords and Keyboard Chords., 5000 Free Classical Guitar TABS, Scores , MIDI and GPRO, https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ for a few others.
These are a lot of tabs, all posted for free, without any indication that any were posted illegally or without permission. I would not want to pass along the few I've selected from these sites otherwise, but don't see how to tell.
I remember reading some time ago that access to one site, IMSLP, had been blocked in some countries because of permission issues. Maybe that's been resolved. None of the other sites have been blocked, at least here. Maybe they should be. Pending that, it would be a large claim that all of the files on all of the sites need a permission they don't have. Maybe not all of the people who have downloaded any of these files from any of these sites have knowingly done anything wrong.
John R.
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So they are not even your own arrangements?
I don't get it. Musicians taking from musicians. There's nothing brave about this new world. Count me out.
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So many do that, and don't care or don't even understand it's stealing. They might get it though if at some point they actually create something, in any art genre, and then see it offered for "a free 2500 bundle" by someone.
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guys, that ship has sailed a long time ago.
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I think there's 2 types:
- Songs that hobbyists transcribed as tabulature + chords as they heard them on the recordings, and then posted to isolated online clubs of fellow enthusiasts with only the request to keep their names on the files.
- Straight copies of those without mentioning the transcriber, as well as commercial material. Both are theft, because even the amateur stuff wasn't intended for indiscriminate, uncredited distribution by a 3rd party.
There's lots of people now who've been born into computers & networking, but that doesn't mean they don't understand basic morals or principles, so "uhh, everybody does it" is no justification. It's just a low move.
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steal me a guitar, it's only property
Originally Posted by djg
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You're both right. It's messing with other people's property, but it's those internerd hippies at Kookle &co who endorse and enable that mentality.
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I'm sure that Rob and myself being involved in music publishing gives us a different perspective on free vs theft. Originally Posted by djg
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Publishing (20 books with Mel Bay and Centerstream) and 10 CDs. So, djg, relax the language. There's no reason why we can't discuss this politely. Cosmic and I know whereof we speak. I know all about Spotify and many others, and I know about torrent sites where my books and recordings can be found. It makes no difference whether you run an online recording service, a record company, or share other people's tabs and books, at the end of the day the creator gets ripped off. Many creators now accept that situation, but I don't have to and I won't. Theft is theft. It has just become normalised and called sharing. It's dressed up as fighting against The Man, whereas in fact it is just stealing from creatives.
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Given up? Mel Bay cannot afford to take every single thief to court, they would get hurt that way too. They can't push back the tide of thieves. But I won't hear a word against them. They pay me regularly every three months, with a fully accounted spreadsheet. No other publisher or record company has ever done that for me. They have published what I would call obscure books of mine, as well as my more popular items. They've taken risks for me on many ocassions. And I'm only one of their many authors.
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djg, please don't tire me. Of course I'm aware of Scribd. I'm not here to give you details of Mel Bay's working practice, other than to say they have done well by me, support me, and do the same for many others. I don't see any online site doing that for me. That thieving has become corporate (Scribd and others) should surprise no one. But call it what it is.
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I wonder if scribd is essentially like "Well, how are we supposed to keep track of these millions of uploads?" In reality the illegal documents are what brings in money. Youtube does a decent enough job, so I think that excuse is BS.
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i'm fine with calling it what it is. a guy sharing his personal collection of 20 years for free on his private google drive. not legal but hardly as despicable as you guys make it out to be. and john is not even a stranger to this and other forums. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
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Well.....all I can say is Thank You, a few of the jazz tunes will help out!
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One of the tab sites, freetabs.org, has a disclaimer on their front page regarding copyright and fair use. The entire text follows below; a relevant sentence reads:
None of the allowed uses involves money. As soon as someone sells an arrangement or plays it for performance or recording, where payment is involved -- even one dollar -- the legal use specified here has been exceeded. I had no intention of doing this and, clearly, neither did they.Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction of a copyrighted work. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private "study, scholarship, or research."
John R.
FreeTabs Disclaimer Terms of Use:
You may only use this library for private study, scholarship, or research. If your intentions are otherwise, do not proceed any further into this library.
Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction of a copyrighted work. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private "study, scholarship, or research." Therefore, if you wish to use the contents of this site for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research, it is your responsibility to obtain clearance from the copyright holder(s).
We have a policy to NOT distribute arrangements that have been copied from printed media (music books, magazines, sheet music, etc.), transcribed from a recorded source, or are still in any way covered by copyright (composer, arrangement, mechanical recording or performance). If you suspect a TablEdit file that is available for download was copied directly from such a source and/or is still covered by a copyright, please contact us so that we may investigate and remove it from the download area if necessary.
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People just don't understand about intellectual property law, either you grasp the concept or you don't. The internet has gotten too big to police, and the huge telecommunications corporations which provide access take no responsibility for policing content. It's been a blessing for consumers, but a curse for creatives. It is a planned, strategic, subversive, conspiracy to alter the public's concepts on ethics and morality. $$$$
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Apparently fait accompli is now the ethic of the world? "Yeah, it's been stolen from you. Tough luck, move on." Scribd exists for the purpose of stealing and redistributing the works of others, whether or not that was their original intent.
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There's further discussion of copyright in an article in the New York Times on Feb. 28, about Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land" -- currently under copyright, but subject to a lawsuit to make it public domain.
The article says:
The article makes no mention of anything like an amateur musician making an arrangement for solo guitar and posting it free on the web. The crux of the copyright test seems to be whether money changes hands.Since "This Land" is under copyright, the song must be licensed any time it is recorded, used in a film or performed in a commercial setting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/arts/music/this-land-is-your-land-copyright.html
John R.
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Posting something online is publishing, like my post here.
If a person doesn't own a song, they don't have the lawful right to make an arrangement and publish it for free without licensing it from the owner.
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In a very real sense, that ship has sailed. If it is in or can be transferred to a digital format, people expect to get it for free or nearly so. And while the moral argument against it might be right, it won't win people over or change their ways. Not for recorded music or music notation certainly. Practicality of downloadable information is going to win out over moral arguments every time.
I'm not saying that I like it, but music publishers can only adapt to this reality or die.
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Cosmic Gumbo is right though. Aside from laws, someone works many hours to write an arrangement, gets it published, receives a little money, and then sees his creative/intellectual property pilfered like it's nothing.
That's not fair. What if all crimes of opportunity were treated thus? "My bicycle was stolen, constable! - Yes, well don't leave it outside.", "There was a burglar! - Then don't leave a window open Ma'm." Oh wait, people already don't care about that anymore - until it happens to them. Nice society morals that condone or even excuse theft that is motivated by avarice or laziness and committed by cowards who wouldn't dare take someone's used Kleenex if the person were standing right there. Bah.
However, in the case of simple chordsheets for stuff like Stairway To Alabama and such, it doesn't matter too much as rockers steal/stole from one another anyway, and it's mostly so obvious you wonder why anyone would want a chordsheet at all. "A A A A A A C D (repeat 200x)" - uh oh, I hope that doesn't infringe on the copyright of every song with "boogie" in the title.
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Joe, it's not the moral thing, it's actually still the legal thing, or I wouldn't harp on it. Stealing property isn't only a moral issue, it's illegal. Originally Posted by Average Joe
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