Olga.net and tab sites shutdown

[dolivas]

from Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=9...1149246&tid=95

Just food for thought how crappy is it that the hardwork of people who are literally by ear deciphering notation then have to have their hardwork taken down because people who get paid to sell such things can't stand any open-source competition.

I just think it's meritless for shutdowns to put on sites like this if you have every right to reverse engineer in a way a song and notate it down for others to play. It's like drawing a picture of Batman and being sued by WB. What does everyone think though? Do you think music or audio copyright should extend this far?

[Nubus]

Did the site charge for their services? I can't see any reason they couldn't post transcriptions if not.

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by Nubus

Did the site charge for their services? I can't see any reason they couldn't post transcriptions if not.

Olga.net didn't and I don't remember ever seeing Google Ads or anything of that nonsense. It actually according to the article was being run as a non-profit. They however don't have the funds to contest this issue in court. Justice for the rich it seems.

[smopo24]

using tab online is how a lot of friends of mine learned to play guitar in the first place! unfortuantely, i have found many songs that are grossly inaccurate; but you get what you pay for. it seems that if they aren't selling it, and it's a personal interpretation of the song, it shouldn't matter. i personally love when i can actually find a song i like on one of these sites! most times it's a bunch of garbage that people tab out.

[warmowski]

I don't have any links handy, but Olga has been attacked on legal grounds and knocked off the net at least twice in the past and they have come back both times. Maybe they'll be back again.

Most of the tabs there state they are for educational purposes only and this has been the basic defense. I hope it holds up again.

Of course, one of the primary educational values of using Olga is to learn real fast that tabs on the internet are a great way to learn songs wrong.

But then again, anybody who uses officially published sheet music for rock knows that even those transcriptions are also often totally WRONG.

Unless the writer actually spelled out the original manuscript themselves and didn't feel like messing with anybody's heads while they did it, don't expect accuracy form nearly any printed source.

-r

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by warmowski

I don't have any links handy, but Olga has been attacked on legal grounds and knocked off the net at least twice in the past and they have come back both times. Maybe they'll be back again.

Most of the tabs there state they are for educational purposes only and this has been the basic defense. I hope it holds up again.

Of course, one of the primary educational values of using Olga is to learn real fast that tabs on the internet are a great way to learn songs wrong.

But then again, anybody who uses officially published sheet music for rock knows that even those transcriptions are also often totally WRONG.

Unless the writer actually spelled out the original manuscript themselves and didn't feel like messing with anybody's heads while they did it, don't expect accuracy form nearly any printed source.

-r

yea, if i have another obscure 60's song tabbed according to the vocal melody, and NOT the actual guitar part, i'm gonna raise a hollar (duh na na da, duh na na da!).

[Professor Riffs]

You never know, not having the chords and riffs to every popular song on the planet readily available might not be such a bad thing. People might have to stop playing other people's music/writing stuff that sounds like other people's music, and start playing & writing like themselves. I reckon that could be a pretty awesome side effect to an otherwise totally crappy scenario.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by Professor Riffs

You never know, not having the chords and riffs to every popular song on the planet readily available might not be such a bad thing. People might have to stop playing other people's music/writing stuff that sounds like other people's music, and start playing & writing like themselves. I reckon that could be a pretty awesome side effect to an otherwise totally crappy scenario.

or, it could just result in people becoming djs instead and making more bad techno! in theory i agree, but how many songs (classic or modern) came from theft; obvious or not. i gather that you mean for people to try to create music free from influence possibly? that's impossible unless you have lived in a bubble your whole life. sure, too many people try to play like eddie van halen, the beatles, pavement; but some people just want to play their songs and not compose....for them, there's tab. i can't read music, and neither can a lot of people, so it helps.

[Professor Riffs]

Originally Posted by smopo24

or, it could just result in people becoming djs instead and making more bad techno! in theory i agree, but how many songs (classic or modern) came from theft; obvious or not. i gather that you mean for people to try to create music free from influence possibly? that's impossible unless you have lived in a bubble your whole life. sure, too many people try to play like eddie van halen, the beatles, pavement; but some people just want to play their songs and not compose....for them, there's tab. i can't read music, and neither can a lot of people, so it helps.

Well nothing is free of influence, of course. But when everyone has the same exact influences, it just plain starts to suck.

[Whoopysnorp]

Originally Posted by Professor Riffs

You never know, not having the chords and riffs to every popular song on the planet readily available might not be such a bad thing. People might have to stop playing other people's music/writing stuff that sounds like other people's music, and start playing & writing like themselves. I reckon that could be a pretty awesome side effect to an otherwise totally crappy scenario.

Another side of it is that relying on tab to figure out songs you want to play prevents you from developing your ear, and having a good ear and being able to pick stuff up on the fly is essential towards being a good musician, in my opinion. I think guitarists should try more to figure out songs the way I always have, from the time I was learning up to the present: play a few seconds of the CD, pause it, try to play what you heard on guitar, rewind and play again until you've got it, move on to the next section, repeat, etc etc.