Peermusic, Warner/Chappell and Bug Music filed an action against LiveUniverse, and its owner Brad Greenspan, co-founder of MySpace, in the Federal Court of the Central District of California for willful copyright infringement on a vast scale.

These publishers also filed similar action against Motive Force LLC and its owner Sean Colombo in the Federal court of the Western District of Pennsylvania. The music publishers seek both equitable relief and damages for the infringing companies unlicensed use of the lyrics from musical compositions on their respective websites and in conjunction with certain web applications.

David Israelite
NMPA President & CEO

"Unlicensed web sites exploiting song lyrics for profit have become a significant problem," said David Israelite, NMPA President and CEO.

"These sites are profiting on the backs of songwriters. It is unfortunate that copyright holders must so frequently divert energies to protect their rights to license and distribute their works. However, the demand for music prompts a seemingly endless stream of illegal business models."

The NMPA says it has sent cease and desist notices to hundreds of illegal sites over the past three years. The efforts have reduced the number of illegal sites, as the majority of those contacted either stopped operating or got licensed.

"Music fans are the biggest losers when licensed businesses, like LyricFind, Gracenote and TuneWiki can’t survive and prosper because unlicensed, illegal businesses are allowed to thumb their noses at the law," Israelite said.
 

MySpace, Say Anything But That

So, my future stepson’s fourteen. Big YouTube fan. Likes his music irreverent, edgy, antiestablishment. I think that’s healthy and normal. His mother’s taught him right. He calls me over to the computer and says, "Have you heard of ‘Say Anything?’"

And I’m like, "Duh!" John Cusack with that stupid boombox over his head. And he’s like, "What’s a boombox?"

He says, "No, old dude," (I’m 30), and he brings up a YouTube video that I’m not going to link to because I’m sure it will be DMCA’d as soon as I do. It’s a tribute video, not the studio production of the band Say Anything’s song "Little Girls," with the lyrics appearing in sync with the audio, a Web 2.0 version of the old red bouncing ball, of which he probably also knows nothing.

The lyrics go:

I kill, kill, kill little girls.
I kill, kill, kill little girls.
It’s such a thrill, thrill, thrill to the world
when I kill, kill, kill little girls. 

The video cycles through pictures of little girls at birthday parties and such.

As my stomach turns, he’s laughing his head off and looking at me like I should be laughing with him. If the teenagers in the comments section beneath the video were standing in the room with us, they’d all be lmaoing and wondering why I wasn’t too.

I’m not laughing because I’m at once disgusted and conflicted. I think of Columbine and Virginia Tech, of child predators, of all the sickos out there that these teenagers probably haven’t thought much about between Biology and English. They’re not having the visceral, sad, sickening feelings I am when I think of it – it’s just a bunch of nonsense to them. They don’t watch the news.

But I’m also a defender of the arts, of free speech, and I remember how unjust and crazy and un-American I thought it was that Dee Snider was yanked in front of Congress to talk about some stupid song lyrics that the kids seem to get but the adults were outraged by.

And here I am, with only a few white hairs parked amid my dark chocolate waves, just one foot into full-on adulthood and still breaking in a 401(k), thinking the world is about to end because of a rock band. I could stomach Ozzie, Marilyn Manson and Mudvayne, but not this?

To be fair, judging from other lyrics it does seem to be some sort of shock rock attack on prettiness – you know, all the glossy lipstick DUI insanity inflicted on us from the Lindsay Lohan absurdities out there.

Other Say Anything titles include "It’s a Metaphor, Fool" (okay, fine, you don’t really want to put sixteen bullets in my head) and "I Will Never Write An Obligatory Song About Being On The Road And Missing Someone" which is just hysterical. 

With over 238,000 friends, the band is quite popular on MySpace, which is why I bring it up here. That, and by sheer coincidence, the day after I first heard their song about killing little girls, MySpace announced their first concert tour.

Guess who was headlining.

Weird, huh?

I tried to contact the band to ask them to explain the lyrics to me, but they have not responded.

I wanted to ask MySpace how promoting a band that sings songs about killing little girls fits into their aggressive campaign against child predation on their website, but neither MySpace nor Fox Interactive Media returned requests for comment. 

It’s also a good, simple way to keep up with what’s going on in the news, really. A spike of searches for "fisher price recall" for example can let you know there might be a problem.*

Today’s top searches are still up in the air, but it looks like Katharine Seelye’s article about the Republican YouTube debates is winning. But if you look at the scatter (the terms that take on various word combinations), people seem most interested in the Duggar family, which brought its seventeenth baby into the world.

Mom must have awesome Mother’s Day gifts, though.

The crowd also seems quite interested in searching the names of specific people involved in the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Queries for specific individuals have replaced searches for information about the bridge collapse in general, which dominate searches Wednesday night.

The bridge came in second on Thursday, though, to people searching for the lyrics to specific songs. If I hadn’t been watching the particular show all these oldies but goodies were appearing on, I wouldn’t know why there was such an interest.**

The top search yesterday was for "pretty woman lyrics" followed by "we got the beat lyrics" with "just once lyrics" in fourth place. The rest of the list is peppered with other songs appearing on Wayne Brady’s new game show "Don’t Forget the Lyrics."***

But perhaps the biggest takeaway from all this is, if you’re not interested in being a type of removed, American culture digital anthropologist, is that if people see it on TV, they search for it on the Web, perhaps proving that intimate connection between the two media.

*And there is a problem. It’s called imports from China: poisoned pet food, faulty, dangerous baby products, flip flops that cause chemical burns, lead paint on the toys – just try and find a product made elsewhere, though. It’s darn near impossible. Let me get this straight, just to digress a little. The US has one case of mad cow disease in 2004, originating from a cow in Canada, and Japan bans US beef. China sends over millions of products that put us, our kids, and our pets in danger and we’re still trading with them? Something’s wrong there don’t you think? My guess is that it affects Wal-Mart and Target’s bottom line too much. 

***Which is much better than "Singing Bee," I have to say – much less cheesy, even if the Honey Bee dancers are quite lovely. They’re no Solid Gold Dancers, though.

Yahoo Music plans to change that with their agreement with digital media company Gracenote.

Yahoo Music will now offer lyrics of 400,000 songs licensed from Gracenote to their users.

Users of the service can search for songs lyrics from the Yahoo Music Search bar, and receive results even when they enter a partial lyric from a song.

Consumers will have access to lyrics from nearly 100 music publishers, including the top five:

• BMG Music Publishing
• EMI Music Publishing
• Sony/ATV Music Publishing
• Universal Music Publishing Group
• Warner/Chappell Music

While there are a whole host of Web sites that offer song lyrics most of those do not have the approval of the publishers or writers that own the rights.

Also those sites rely on lyric entries made by the general public which are not always accurate.

"You mean Bob Dylan isn’t actually saying ‘The ants, my friend, are in a bowling pin?’" asks Ian Rogers, general manager of Yahoo! Music.

"Finally, a free, legal and definitive way to settle a bet with the guy sitting next to you at the bar who is certain the Ramones’ most famous anthem declares, ‘I wanna piece of bacon.’"

Gracenote started its Lyrics program over two years ago, with the goal of creating a comprehensive database of legal, accurate song lyrics for consumers.

"Song lyrics are continually among the top 10 searches performed on major search engines, though the results often provide consumers a frustrating experience filled with inconsistent and incomplete lyrics, and annoying pop-ups," said Craig Palmer, president and chief executive officer of Gracenote.

"With Gracenote and Yahoo!, consumers will have access to the largest database of high quality lyrics linked directly to the rich album and artist content available throughout Yahoo! Music."

A Google search for the lyrics to Fiona Apple’s “Pale September” yields an initial return of three sites to find the waifish diva’s poetic lyricism. It also provides a link to iTunes and Real Rhapsody where the song can be purchased.

According to Media Post, the Music Publishers’ Association and the National Music Publishers’ Association have recently complained that websites posting lyrics are violating copyrights. The organizations also attack tablature, a notation system simpler and more explicit than traditional sheet music, as information that damages a songwriter’s ability to make a living. If all of the world’s information is Google’s carrot, then tablature is eventually included.

David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers’ Association, likened the posting of lyrics and tablatures to stealing, while Music Publishers’ Association President Lauren Keiser said his organization would begin taking action against sites that post lyrics next year.

But Media Post’s Wendy Davis also describes Warner/Chappell Music’s back down after the Electronic Frontier Foundation pressured the organization to apologize to pearlLyrics. pealLyrics distributed a software that allowed iPod users to add lyrics along side of downloaded songs.

Fair Use, argues EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann, should cover buyers of audio music to seek out lyrics if they choose.

Since the proliferation of online music piracy has surged, music companies have cried foul because of the loss of revenue piracy generates. The widespread availability of lyrics and tablatures, they say, pose a similar threat to profits.

However, a recent report from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School says the word of mouth value that comes with peer-to-peer file sharing actually may bolster music purchases.

“Nearly one quarter of frequent online music users say that the ability to share music with others is a key factor when selecting an online music service. And a third were interested in technology that helps them discover and recommend music, such as tools that allow Internet users to publish and rank lists of their favorite songs. Perhaps most important for the recording industry, a tenth of those surveyed said they frequently make music purchases based on others’ recommendations,” reports TechNewsWorld.

The article goes on to show that some music industry workers are exploiting that viral capability.

“I have a Rolodex of hundreds and hundreds of narrow-casting, blogging, and niche-community Web sites that target the audience I’m trying to reach,” says Interscope Records’ Courtney Holt. “I make sure the core people get information early.”

Some may argue that wooing the users of shared content is a better strategy than an iron-fisted pay-or-else approach. The interested market is readily available and easily directed to where they can purchase. And if downloading pay-for-play music gets to the point where it’s easier than pirating, we may see a surge in legal usage.

Google has at least covered a base it may have neglected in the past-providing a ready link to music sellers. But the music sellers may be missing a golden marketing opportunity if they continue to be song-Nazis along the way. And if the music industry remains as adamant as print publishers, then we may see a sequel to the Book Search drama.