Lyrics web site needs our help
Dan Lester
At 10:29 PM 2/22/99 -0500, SaraJane Patterson wrote:
>There is a very useful website for looking up lyrics to popular songs.
>Called the International Lyrics Server, its URL is:
>http://www.lyrics.ch/
>Recently, however, the service was shut down by the National Music
>Publishers' Association. Information on the dispute is available on the
>site, which has a link to a New York Times article that provides background
>on the fray. The article URL is:
>http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/02/cyber/artsatlarge/18artsatlarge.html
>The bottom line is that this enormously useful resource will be lost forever
>unless we help!
That article does indeed provide a rather current and readable summary of
this copyright and licensing issue, although it confounds it a bit by
getting into the licensing of MP3 recordings.
What is totally unclear to me is how librarians are supposed to help. The
article says that the NMPA has already received over 30,000 emails on the
topic, so adding two or two thousand more to the pile is not likely to make
a difference. In fact, it is highly likely they're just counted and not
read anyway. I hope that all librarians support copyright and licensing
laws, even if we don't always agree with them. (I happen to think the new
copyright extensions are excessive, and that many licensing fees for all
sorts of media are ridiculously high) The NMPA certainly has the right
and responsibility to do what they're doing, whether we like it or not. As
far as I'm concerned, if the managers of www.lyrics.ch can demonstrate that
they're non-profit, then the NMPA would be much smarter to let the matter
go. But of course they didn't ask me and I doubt they'd read any emails
that I sent them.
cheers
dan
--
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716-7115 USA 208-383-0165
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