Walter Ritter is the developer behindpearlyrics , a peachy short Dashboard thingumajig . It did one simple but very utilitarian thing : It searched the net for the lyrics to the song you were playing in iTunes , display those lyrics on the Dashboard , and replicate them into the Song dynasty ’s iTunes Lyrics field of honor . It certainly was n’t the only words widget out there , but it ’s the one that several of us here atMacworldliked .
Unfortunately , pearlyrics is no more . Last week , Ritter receive a letter from Warner Chappell Music—“one of the world ’s largest music publishers , ” itsWeb siteproudly proclaims — telling him to give up and desist . Being a modest freeware developer with no legal budget , he did .
As I say , there are plenty of lyrics widgets out there . Ritter has heard of only one other developer who ’s received a exchangeable cease - and - desist letter of the alphabet . So big whoop , you say , a couple of minor - league thingummy - makers must turn their hands to something else . But I recollect it ’s weird : Why is one of the world ’s largest medicine newspaper publisher bothering to go after a yoke of baseborn whatsis makers ?
I judge to ask Warner Chappell , but the party did n’t return multiple calls over several 24-hour interval last workweek . I did get in tinge with Fred von Lohmann , senior stave attorney at theElectronic Frontier Foundation , and he has a possibility . This may just be “ a ironic outpouring for a much broader campaign in New Year . ” The mark of that movement ? Web sites that publish music lyric poem .
And von Lohmann is n’t just being paranoid . The Music Publishers ’ Association has said it wants to crack down on language sites . MPA President Lauren Keiser recently told the BBC that he wants to do more than just shut down those sites ; he thinks that , if the multitude who function them were facing “ some jail clock time , I think we ’ll be a little more efficacious . ”
Google “ music lyrics , ” and you get 3 million - summation hits . Now , many of those situation are be given by fans who have painstakingly transcribe the run-in to their preferent song by their favorite artist . But others are neutral megasites that use the lure of lyrics to put millions of eyeballs in front of ads . It ’s the latter crowd that Warner Chappell et al . may really be after . As von Lohmann puts it , “ It smacks of the Google Print post : If someone is create a nickel off your work , you need four cents , even if you were n’t making any money off it before . ”
In its cease - and - desist letter of the alphabet to Ritter , Warner Chappell specifically mention the recent Grokster case as the basis for its action mechanism . In that case ( which von Lohmann argue ) , the Supreme Court countenance the entertainment industry to sue providers of peer - to - peer software for the copyright infringements of that software ’s exploiter . In other word , if you build a tool that someone uses to commit a criminal offense , you ’re apt . sure as shooting , pearlyrics searches in public usable lyrics database . But , because those database may violate copyrights , publishers can go after the search dick .
That still leaves several questions unanswered : Why pearlyrics and not other lyric poem widgets ? Why not go directly after the lyrics sites that ( publishers think ) are actually violating their copyrights ? And , for users like you and me : Why ca n’t I download lyric poem to the euphony I ’ve already bought ? If I buy a CD , I get a lyrics bed sheet . Why ca n’t I get the same thing for euphony I buy lawfully on-line ? iTunes has that lyrics bailiwick ever sinceversion 5 : How else am I suppose inhabit it , unless I use a creature like pearlyrics ?
solution to those dubiousness , and others , will , I hope , be fare presently .
