The Sound of Silence

Neil has a great post on the latest bullshit from the music industry. Trying to ban sites that share tablature to songs. The argument being that some artists occassionally publish sheet music, and by figuring out how to play the songs before the artist tells you how to play it (in a format that a great many guitarists can't decipher) you are stealing from them.

Neil's take:

Apparently, my being able to freely download the chords and lyrics to "hey jude" and "enter sandman" is why Paul McCartney and Lars Ulrich live in abject squalor. Or maybe it's playing songs on the guitar, alone in my apartment, that's forced them into homelessness? And what if I transcribe the tab myself, listening to the music? that must also be a crime. Or if I listen to music, and say to myself 'Oh, it goes A E Dm'?

I have to wonder, is humming the song to yourself also illegal. Or even worse, what if you get a song stuck in your head? If so does writing a catchy song count as an artist aiding and abetting me in the commision of a crime? How about if a friend and I talk about a song and then start singing it, I believe in that case it's peer-to-peer sharing of illegally downloaded/remembered music. Campfire sing-a-longs are clearly destorying the music industry and its ability to make money. Whoever owns Kumbiyah is owed a shit load of royalties, all those fucking hippy theives trying to steal from poor record companies.

A final word from Neil and Jeff Tweedy

Playing a song yourself is just another way to experience it, to make it a part of you -- does that really need to be litigated to death?

And if the whole world's singing your song,
and all of your paintings have been hung
Just remember, what was yours, is everyone's from now on

-- Jeff Tweedy