Red Hot Chilli Peppers Tab Copyright Issues
The Music Publishers' Association (MPA) has recently taken the position that distributing free tablature online is illegal and is pushing to shut down websites that offer free tablature. MPA president Lauren Keiser says that their goal would be for owners of free tablature services to face fines and even imprisonment. Several websites that offer free tablature have already taken their tablature offline until a solution or compromise is found.
As of Monday December 12, 2005, tabs of copyrighted music were considered illegal by the music industry, and numerous prominent sites providing tabs, such as Mxtabs.net, had closed down. However, as of February 23, 2006, the owners of Mxtabs put the website back online with a letter explaining their position. In short, they believe that the purpose of Mxtabs is to "aid musicians in learning their instruments." They say that Mxtabs has accounted for as much as $3000 a month in sheet music sales, and offers many tabs that do not have equivalent sheet music published, so Mxtabs and similar sites are the only place that musicians can find a way to play these songs. The letter concludes by pointing out that tabs have never been proven to be illegal, then requesting that sheet music companies contact Mxtabs in order to create a system of tab licensing.
PINKFLOYDTABS.INFO has decided at this time to stop providing tabs until the legal situation is clarified.