http://punknews.org/article.php?sid=14888&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Powertabs and MX Tabs are gone, and a guitar store is charged for playing copywritten riffs.

I am royally pissed. Powertabs was the best tabs site ever, and now because some stupid pricks decide they need more money, it gets shut down. VINNY SMASH!

* mb stabs
<@Vinny> Someone should organize a protest infront of the MPA's headquarters
<@Vinny> and they can ****ing sing some copyrighted songs
<mb> and write the lyrics on the sidewalk :p
<@Vinny> and they can stomp their feet and clap

Okay so yea, the world is ending.

The following sites were shut down:
http://www.powertabs.net/
http://www.mxtabs.net/



This is my favorite part:


Link to that story:
http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/207/207169_its_a_fiddle.html

Original article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm


(and its from the BBC so it has to be true)

What a load of crap.

Dang, that sucks. I would always use mxtabs for bass. I don't see how it was even illegal if the people who submitted them figured it out then posted rather than copying from a book.

I miss MX Tabs:(

WHAT THE HELL.

Tab sites i could barely understand why.

FINED FOR COVERING A SONG IN A MUSIC STORE.

WHAT THE HELL!?

next thing thing you know they'll fine me for teaching known songs to my students. What in the ****ing **** is wrong with these people?

Lets try to see the good and bad here:

The good: It could force more guitarists to train their ears to learn how to play songs.

The bad: That's retarded going after the guitar store playing riffs from famous songs. I can see the logic (while stupid) of going after tab sites, but a store and calling it a public performance?

Wow

Dahaha, there is still a http://www.bassmasta.net/ so I don't give a crap.

(Actually I do, power tabs and MX Tabs were damn good sites :/)

mxtabs haven't been shut down, they're just having server trouble. power-tabs disabled downloading themselves, no action has been taken against either site.

mxtabs sure doesnt look like its having server trouble



Anyway, it doesnt matter if action has been taken yet. The fact that they have to disable downloads because of this is pretty rediculous.

i hope olga doesnt shut down.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Wouldn't be the first time...

I can vaguely understand going after tabs sites, but by the looks of it lyrics sites are in the firing line too. It's totally moronic. I've often heard a song on the radio or whatever and thought, "wow, that sounds great" and listened out for a few unique lyrics so I can find out the name of the song and the band online afterwards. I'm sure there are quite a few other people who do the same. I suspect people discovering bands and buying their albums brings in more money than sales of lyrics books.

As for playing riffs in a music shop, the logical progression from there is to charge people for playing music in the presence of others. E.g. I wouldn't be allowed to play a track from a new album I bought to my friends.

I will confess (again), that the loss of tab sites is not a big one. Almost all of the bass tabs I've ever seen were hopelessly wrong.

As for the bit about playing riffs, that's retarded. I used to work at one of the local guitar stores, and if I had a nickel for everytime I heard someone playing (read "butchering") "Stairway to Heaven", I'd be a freakin' millionaire!

lol, well I guess the MPA had the same thought.

MxTabs hasn't actually gone down, nor have they had server trouble. The owner's taken it offline while he's fixing the whole lawsuit business.

God dammit, music is about expressing one's creativity, not money. **** money.

Making lyric sites illegal.

Whiskey.

Tango.

Foxtrot.

No, that cannot be enforcable. You can't ban that! That's just stupid on so many levels. Does that mean our "bohemian rhapsody" threads (as stupid as they are) are now Illegal?

I should make a song thats just one chord, and sue everyone who uses that chord...

Yeah, how many CDs come with the lyrics as it is.

bb-but Slashdot said the initial sueing for lyrics apologized
I blame him for making the MPA realise the potential for doing this...

Proof positive that scare tactics and bullying will always work.

Sucks, nay?

After spending a while looking for any tab at all of a song and I can't find one because the sites have been taken down, or the tabs have been removed, I would like to say that the MPA can fornicate themselves with an iron stick.

http://www.guitartabs.cc/ - this site seems to be working