Guitar Tab Archive Shut Down Due to Copyright Issues

OLGA, a venerable and very popular guitar tablature archive, received “take downnotices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Guitar tab archives are such a gray area for working musicians. For up-and-comers on a budget, guitar tabs are a simple, free way to learn songs. However, sheet music is a traditional way that songwriters have earned money — even at a few cents per copy.

While OLGA was essentially a non-commercial effort, I imagine that the message is loud and clear for the hordes of commercial sites offering guitar tabs — pay a royalty or get sued.

Like song lyrics on the web, this is a very sticky situation that only artists can solve. I don’t ever think that there will be a blanket agreement over what you can and cannot legally do with guitar tabs and song lyrics online — the community is too divided.

What do you think should happen, and what are you, as an artist, ready to do about it?

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One response

  1. This is really short-sighted by the copyright holders. What better exposure for your recorded music than somebody playing it live?

    Finally got around to posting some comments on my blog…

    http://www.indiemusician.com/music_business/2006/08/guitar_tab_site.html

    OLGA has has problems since the beginning. Thought that the industry was finally going to accept them, but I guess not. 🙁