More on music publisher's crackdown on tab and lyrics sites

Since our original story, a number of events have taken place in the ongoing battle between copyright owners and online lyric and tab services.

After experiencing pressure from the EFF, music publisher Warner Chappell has apologized and withdrawn their cease-and-desist against pearLyrics. The program did not contain any copyrighted material, but scoured the internet's lyric sites to add lyrics to MP3 files in iTunes. The company apologized, saying:

The goal of Warner/Chappell's prior letter to pearworks was to gain assurance that pearLyrics operated according to (copyright) principles. However, in both tone and substance, that letter was an inappropriate manner in which to convey that inquiry.

However, the Music Publisher's Association has already shut down a few online tablature sites, including
Power Tabs and MX Tabs. Some bands, like the Foo Fighters, have actually encouraged tab services, and link to one site from their official website.

On an even stranger note, the copyright campaign has hit traditional stores as well, one British guitar store found themselves sent a bill for £114 due to sales people in the store demonstrating guitars using popular riffs. The British counterpart to the MPA - called the Performing Right's Society - explained that since the record store was open to the public, playing the riffs on instruments was a "public performance:"

Royalties are crucial - they keep songwriters and musicians writing more music. And royalties are paid by everyone that plays music in public.

The Music Publisher's campaign is set to begin in January, with president Lauren Keiser dismissing any profit sharing between the sites and the publishers, telling Billboard::

If someone was robbing your bank, would you go to them and say, 'Hey, let's split the cut?'"