perfidy

I play the guitar. By which I mean that I know some chords and can improvise a lame lead built in a pentatonic box. That knowledge pretty much grants access to the entire AC/DC catalog which, really, ought to be enough for anyone.

But there are legions of folks in this great land of ours who are just starting and can't yet play by ear. Others seek more than what Angus Young can teach us- odd, yes, but they're out there and I've met them. They want an edge, a little more knowledge, or at the very least, a more refined dabbling in the guitary arts. Some people take private lessons which, judging by the fliers I see at any given moment on any campus or metro area, must be a booming business.

The quickest way though to learn how to play a song yourself, and if you can't do it by ear, is to use tablature. Tab is a graphical shorthand that explains where your fingers go on certain strings. Tab can help you fret a weird chord you didn't hear in the song, or with a spiffy lead run you can't pick out yourself. It also has the benefit of having near instantaneous utility, as opposed to having to train to read formal sheet music. If you can see, you can apply tablature. Its main drawback though is that tab cannot help you if you don't already know how the song is supposed to sound.

As with every other perversion, the internets are full of tablature sites. Typically, more skilled players will post their shorthand interpretations of popular songs for novices. They are free, and understood to be a sort of fraternal public service. Yours truly, not 2 weeks ago, consulted a site because I knew the tuning of a song was all fucky, and didn't get it. In about 10 seconds I was able to find the song, see the layout, go "Oh, THAT's how...", and presto-change-o, could play the song.

But now the lawyers got wind of it, so it's all fucked up for everybody.

The site I used for tab, OLGA, has been down for awhile. They've now posted links to the nastygrams they got from the law firm representing the National Music Publishers Association and the Music Publishers Association of the United States that accuse OLGA, and several similar sites, of copyright infringement and ordered them to stop operating. Their argument is that because music writers, transcribers, and related fields have to go through the legal hassle of following copyright law when they do their business, the result of which is selling songbooks and such to musicians, offering what is ostensibly the same service for free (yet still generating an income with blogads and such) is illegal.

So dig, I can get- marginally- the infringement argument. That's the law, the publishers feel threatened, and seek remedy through legal action. As far as a reasonably well-adjusted society's legal mechanism working, I get it. But the MPA said a little too much with this remark:

We are doing this to protect the interests of the creators and publishers of music so that, the profession of songwriting remains viable and that new and exciting music will be continued to be created and enjoyed for generations to come.

So- just so I'm clear- the Music Publisher's Association's position is that, if the broader population know how to play older, previously released music, musicians will no longer care to produce new work?

I'm pretty sure that wide popularity has not yet worked AGAINST a musician. And it's odd that a dilettante has to explain this to the MPA, but here you go: musicians are artists. Artists create because if they don't, they go mental. Admittedly sometimes they are mental beforehand. But regardless of their personal sanity timeline, artists make art because they have to, not for the friggin pay; are you kidding?! As for the income, I am highly skeptical of the claim that some schmoe running a tab site is winning the big money and fabulous prizes. The whole point is to share information to enjoy the music, not to play musical capitalist. It's not like Russell Simmons made his gajillions on tablature.

And thinking about it, are they going to file cease and desist orders on every cover band in the Union? Because not only do they play copyrighted material, they profit from it too. Sure some get paid in cocaine, but it is, strictly speaking, compensation. And as much as I would love to see crummy cover bands wither and fail, I'd rather it done through people telling them they suck by not paying to see them, than by playing lawyer-ball. Although, to be fair, they may have tried serving them with court papers, but often those folks have no fixed address and it's tough to deliver to "the van with all the bondo on it in the field behind the old fire station."

But let's test the waters here, and see how music publishers feel about this. I will reveal the most secretest secrety secret of rock and roll, right here and now. I am gambling that this revelation will not cause popular music in general, and rock n roll in particular, to screech to a jarring and disastrous halt. I am willing to gamble that, contrary to the MPA's weird assertion, its transcribers will continue to be able "to feed their families". It is nothing less than the Key to Rock. It is the entry path to Chuck Berry; through Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes) Young; past KISS; on to the Ramones, Pearl Jam, and the nu-metal flavor of the month.

I stand at the cliffside now, Prometheus-like, and hereby give the gift of rock and roll fire to the yearning multitudes:

A-C-E-A

Use it wisely, my children.

Now let's see if they send their legal vultures to peck at my innards for all eternity.