Scandinavian Guitar Centre


the following email was received from the Scandinavian Guitar Centre 16 March 2000


Reply-To: "artis.music" <artis.music@swipnet.se>
From: "artis.music" <artis.music@swipnet.se>
To: <weed@venus.co.uk>
Subject: SHALL WE MEET YOU IN COURT???
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 17:37:47 +0100
Organization: Edition Artis Music
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THIS IS THE FIRST AND LAST MAIL BEFORE WE TAKE LEGAL ACTION!
 
 
Your site (http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/music/classtab/welcome.htm) contains
material which is protected by International Copyright Law!!!
 
If this material does not disappear from the server within 48 hours we will take
legal action against you!
 
A copy of this e-mail has been sent to you host-master!
 
Kind regards,
 
Octavian Badéa - General Manager & CEO
 
Scandinavian Guitar Centre & Edition Artis Music
International Guitar Music Distributor & Publisher
 
Now accepting credit-cards: VISA, Mastercard & Eurocard
 
<snip>

Weed's comment


the success of commercial web sites is dependent on their traffic - it makes more sense for online publishers to encourage reciprocal links with popular tablature sites, rather than trying to close them down

further emails from Octavian Badéa, CEO of the SGC (Edition Artis Music), have consisted mainly of caps, bangs, heavy-handed threats and abuse ("fraud and violation", "the LAW!!!", "substantial material damages!", "thieves like you!!!" etc), a typical example of the ignorance and greed often exhibited by those new to ecommerce and the net - he now claims to have passed on his complaint to the "International Assocciation of Intellectual Property & Rights in Stockholm Sweden", and also to have contacted various publishers - i await developments...

points that various people have raised re classical tablature include -

tablature is designed to show the guitarist where to place each finger, and is merely one person showing another how to play a piece

many people don't read sheet, but are tempted into classical music by the use of tabs allowing them to play well-known pieces

those who already have the sheet music are often grateful to be able to view the tab, both as an aid to playing the piece, and to learn variations (eg single note transcriptions for the electric guitar) or explore different arrangements and interpretations (eg as performed by other guitarists)

some people who visit tablature pages are also looking for sheet music and are prepared to pay for it

copyright normally refers to a 'tangible' medium and it is debatable whether a tab on the web is tangible - if not, and a person downloads a tab and prints it, is the copyright then breached? - if so, it would be the downloader who is in breach and not the hoster of the tablature site

tablature on the web is making music more accesible to guitarists and boosts the numbers who enjoy this hobby - which is surely a good thing for music and music-related-goods retailers

should there be an apparently clear breach of copyright (eg exclusive rights to a piece held by a publisher whose sheet music also carries the tablature arrangement which someone has copied and sent to me) then i wd have no hesitation in removing it on receipt of a request by the publisher - similarly, if there were objections from the original composer or the author of a particular tab

in the past it is likely that composers were more worried about copyright, but mainly because they were concerned that someone might steal their work and claim it as their own without anyone being any the wiser - nowadays, i'd have thought most composers would be only too pleased to have accurate acredited tabs of their music online - i guess i'm naive enough to believe that the majority of them are more concerned with their music being played and listened to by as many people as possible, than with short-sighted attempts to try and maximise their profits

finally, many thanx for the letters of support - it's a pleasure to be able to contribute to the enjoyment that open access tablature pages have brought to thousands of guitarists all over the world


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comments to weed@venus.co.uk
revised 3 April 2000
URL http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/music/classtab/tabwants.htm