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I feel like starting a business with a massive theft of other people's intellectual property isn't a great model to follow.
Serious question: is this theft of IP? I know if a songwriter writes a song, you need to license it in order to perform it for profit, but are the actual lyrics intellectual property?
I feel like starting a business with a massive theft of other people's intellectual property isn't a great model to follow.
A lot of successful startups and internet businesses are done on a 'break an awkward law first, ask for permission later' kind of way. There's a reason a common startup mantra is 'it's better to beg for forgiveness rather than ask permission'.
And yes, YouTube is another obvious example here. Wouldn't have been anywhere near as popular if it was so strict on copyright right from the start.
That's a lot of content to get licensed. You have to individually negotiate with every band and artist to get the license for their lyrics?
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Well back in 2004 there was no way to get an actual license. Most lyrics sites claimed to be safe under DMCA or "Educational Use". Only up until the publishers stood up for themselves, the industry shifted slowly.
>Well back in 2004 there was no way to get an actual license. There's also no way to hang the original Mona Lisa in your house but that doesn't mean you get to steal it.
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Yes, good eye. A great example of continuious testing SEO opportunities. What if Google would start ranking directlyrics on specific 'azlyrics' queries? I haven't seen it happen yet, but if it worked... expect it to be reverted next week.
Right, so you're using one of your competitors' names quite prominently on your own site? And, er, you think that's ok?
So it's legally okay, as far as we know.
Still a dick move, though. It's not okay in my opinion. But I'm not the one who may gain or lose thousands of dollars by deciding whether or not to do it, either. I can't say for certain whether it would be okay or not from outside my comfy judgment armchair.
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Yes, good eye. A great example of continuious testing SEO opportunities. What if Google would start ranking directlyrics on specific 'azlyrics' queries? I haven't seen it happen yet, but if it worked... expect it to be reverted next week.
Right, so you're using one of your competitors' names quite prominently on your own site? And, er, you think that's ok?
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Why does https://www.directlyrics.com have a TITLE of "Azlyrics" and an H1 of "Azlyrics" but http://www.azlyrics.com seems to be an entirely unrelated web site? The latter is typically what I end up at when I search for song lyrics if I click one of the first few links (though if I want to read some amusing analysis, usually there is a Genius.com link a few below).
Yes, good eye. A great example of continuious testing SEO opportunities. What if Google would start ranking directlyrics on specific 'azlyrics' queries? I haven't seen it happen yet, but if it worked... expect it to be reverted next week.
That's a lot of content to get licensed. You have to individually negotiate with every band and artist to get the license for their lyrics?
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So back in 2010 the first law suit started against lyrics sites: > http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/californ... It was pretty clear that others would be next. Hence unlicensed wouldn't be maintainable. Next to that, I wanted to sell advertising to big brands. My advertising partner insisted we needed to be licensed for the Coca Cola's of this world to spend money on my traffic. So for me it was an…
I think the commenter's question was more about _how_ you did it :) (Thanks for answering questions here btw) Did publishers just reach out to say "hey, pay this fee"? Or did they straight up start with lawsuits/C&D? Or did you reach out to them and say "hey I got this site, how much do I pay you to become licensed?"
I feel like starting a business with a massive theft of other people's intellectual property isn't a great model to follow.
Most very successful businesses had to bend the rules a bit to get where they are at.