Study by Camper Van Beethoven's David Lowery Prompts NMPA to File Take-Down Notices Against 50 Lyric Websites

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The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) have filed take-down notices against 50 unlicensed lyric websites. This effort was spearheaded in part by University of Georgia researcher/Camper Van Beethoven member David Lowery, who released a study listing the top 50 "undesirable" sites. Read Lowery's study with the full list of websites here.

"Unlicensed lyric sites are largely ignored as copyright infringers, but in fact these sites generate huge web traffic and involve more money than one might think," Lowery said. "The lyric business is clearly more valuable in the Internet age."

The top offender on Lowery's list? Rap Genius. The New York Times received an email from Ilan Zechory, one of the site's founders, who expressed the differences between Rap Genius and other unlicensed lyric sites.

“The lyrics sites the NMPA refers to simply display song lyrics, while Rap Genius has crowdsourced annotations that give context to all the lyrics line by line, and tens of thousands of verified annotations directly from writers and performers. These layers of context and meaning transform a static, flat lyric page into an interactive, vibrant art experience created by a community of volunteer scholars.”

Zechory did not respond to questions regarding whether or not Rap Genius licenses lyrics from publishers, but he said his company â€œcan’t wait to have a conversation with [publishers] about how all writers can participate in and benefit from the Rap Genius knowledge project.”

In a press release, the NMPA promised "further legal action against sites that are unwilling to license or remove infringing content." They state that there are five million searches for "lyrics" on Google per day, and over 50 percent of lyric page views are on unlicensed sites. The press release also notes that the NMPA been successful in court against LiveUniverse and LyricWiki. 

Lowery determined the "top 50 undesirable lyric websites" using something he calls the "lyric website undesirability index". He notes in the study that they "cannot absolutely conclude, from the outside looking in, that these sites do not have licenses." To see whether or not a site has a license, Lowery cross-referenced the LyricsSeal database. 

"These lyric sites have ignored the law and profited off the songwriters' creative works, and NMPA will not allow this to continue," said NMPA president/CEO David Israelite. "This is not a campaign against personal blogs, fan sites, or the many websites that provide lyrics legally.  NMPA is targeting fifty sites that engage in blatant illegal behavior, which significantly impacts songwriters' ability to make a living."

[url=http://pitchfork.com/news/52967-study-by-camper-van-beethovens-david-lowery-prompts-nmpa-to-file-take-down-notices-against-50-lyric-websites/]View the full article[/url]