61–70 of 83 posts
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There are two companies available who are intermediaries between me (site) and the lyrics publisher (writer) and handle all licensing: - Gracenote (they sold their lyrics licensing to lyricfind) - Lyricfind E.g. Google and Bing also license their lyrics offering through Lyricfind. I only deal with them.
Out of curiosity, is getting the rights to a lyric catalogue a 4 figure, 5 figure, 6 figure deal?
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So it goes without saying that you're not one of those people who has committed the monstrous act of singing Happy Birthday without paying to license the performance rights? Or have you perhaps also lead a less than pure life (as viewed by the RIAA)?
> So it goes without saying that you're not one of those people who has committed the monstrous act of singing Happy Birthday without paying to license the performance rights? But, none of the copyright claims on that were valid so, how is that a monstrous act, even in an absolutist view of adherence to legal copyrights? http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-happy-birthday-s...
It is kinda insane that it took until 2015, though. I still somehow doubt that people who get on a high horse about lyrics sites and IP waited until someone with deep pockets was able to fend off a lawsuit in 2015 to sing the song, though.
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A more apt comparison is downloading an image that is still under Copyright (Mona Lisa is public domain, though photos of it may not be), getting a high quality print made at a local print shop, hanging it in your living room, and charging people $5 to come look at it. In this example, there is a tangible personal gain from violating the intellectual property rights of somebody else. It ain't theft, true, but it ain'…
Except he wasn't charging them to see it. He had a huge neon sign in the background that he was being paid to have in his house, and they got to see the mona lisa for free. If they happened to see the neon beer sign as well, then awesome.
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So it goes without saying that you're not one of those people who has committed the monstrous act of singing Happy Birthday without paying to license the performance rights? Or have you perhaps also lead a less than pure life (as viewed by the RIAA)?
Yes, I have sung Happy Birthday but I don't remember starting a business making money off of it and then bragging. Yes, I have downloaded music in the past but I knew it was wrong and never used mental gymnastics to justify it. I simply did it because I didn't want to pay. Haven't done it in about a decade though.
It's absolutely crucial to understand that law and "right" from an ethical standpoint are not necessarily the same, though that is the ideal state to strive for.
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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?
Lyrics are copyrighted. Musical scores may be separately copyrighted. Individual performances or recordings of music and lyrics together may also be separately copyrighted. Typically, the latter is pursued by recording companies, because that is the IP they own or exclusively license. The rest is rarely handled by the individual rights-holders, as they usually just let ASCAP or a similar organization handle the busin…
You could even pay the original artist to perform it. The recording is what's licensed, not all performances by that artist. On Spotify I've seen quite a few older artists re-recording their old hits, presumably because they get more money if they themselves own the license to their own cover.
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.
The really big companies are France Telecom/Orange, GDF/Suez, Total, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, EDF and Societe Generale, maybe Renault. All fit this pattern. None are the result of innovation, the closest would be Sanofi and Renault up until WW1.
I have not yet been to another country where it was different.
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It's AZLyrics's responsibility to police their own trademarks, so it's okay, unless they say it is not in a C&D letter. 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…
It's blatant, intentional trademark infringement for direct commercial gain. IANAL, but I would think this might result in something quite a bit more expensive than a C&D -- like a lawsuit with punitive damages. ETA: and now the site owner is on record here on HN stating that the intent was to steal search traffic. I'm sure this is a cutthroat business ... but this is an open invitation for one's own throat to be cut…
If the company hasn't registered it, and doesn't enforce it, it is not a trademark.
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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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Right, so you're using one of your competitors' names quite prominently on your own site? And, er, you think that's ok?
It's AZLyrics's responsibility to police their own trademarks, so it's okay, unless they say it is not in a C&D letter. 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…
http://www.klemchuk.com/30-trademark-infringement-by-meta-ta...
how much has rapgenius taken away from you? i know i used to land up in one of many crappy lyrics sites, such as yours, because those seem to be the only places to find them but these days i mostly stick to rapgenius for its clean interface. i imagine rapgenius's rise must have done some damage with their clearly superior technology?