Nice work, but...
Posted November 9th, 2006 by Joris
I read about you guys in De Standaard, I really believe that this website could work.
But as I was looking around I was wondering, if people have gathered sheet music on illegal websites in the past and post it on your website, would it become legal???
Just curious about your way of working.
practical use
Hi Joris,
Author rights organisations know very well there are a lot of websites with copyrighted content, published without any legal arrangement. There are two ways to solve this issue. Or you take down those websites, or you offer a way to settle an arrangement.
Since the beginning of 2006, we have seen a lot of those websites taken down. Olga.net, MxTabs.net, PearLyrics and many more. By ‘we’, I mean the communities around those websites. So, now this way of working makes two victims: the right holders and the community! The former is still looking for some compensation, the latter has a hard time to find their sheet music, which is still floating around the internet.
The only solution for both parties is setting up a fair system, which gives anyone the opportunity to setup a legal business around user generated sheet music. Musicopy understood this very well. By making the barrier as low as possible, they hope that the illegal floating content can become legal.
So you and the community can help with that by publishing 'illegal' sheet music on Wikifonia or on any other website with a legal arrangement.
So, your statement is correct and I hope this eliminates your remaining doubts ;-)