Joint Statement of Walter Ritter, pearworks and Richard Blackstone, Warner/Chappell Music:
“Based upon our common goal of helping consumers enjoy the song lyrics they want – and our common belief that technology can help to transform the music industry to the benefit of consumers and artists alike – we are committed to working together to provide consumers a convenient, legal way to find accurate song lyrics.
The goal of Warner/Chappell’s prior letter to pearworks was to gain assurance that pearLyrics operated according to those principles. However, in both tone and substance, that letter was an inappropriate manner in which to convey that inquiry. Warner/Chappell apologizes to Walter Ritter and pearworks.
Our solution will adhere to our shared belief that songwriters must be fairly compensated for their work and that legitimate web sites with accurate lyrics must not be undermined by unlicensed web sites.
We look forward to working together, and to helping to advance the evolution of the music industry cooperatively for the benefit of consumers and artists alike.”
Walter Ritter writes for pearworks, “So stay tuned for more info. But for now, just let me briefly explain. Personally I think that’s good news for lyrics fans. One of the biggest complaints I got when pearLyrics was still alive, was that a lot of lyrics were not perfectly accurate or even completely wrong at all. Some of it was due to the fact, that many lyrics sites that feature (maybe unlicensed) lyrics rely on users submitting song lyrics. Sure, those users do the best they can to get them right, but many times lyrics just end up like they think they hear them, instead of the way they were actually ment to be by their composers. A service that would work with licensed lyrics would help to solve this problem – and additionally, it would also provide correct composer information, also an often requested feature. At the same time the actual songwriters, the ones who give us so much joy, will benefit. So at first sight, this seems like a win-win situation for all. Let’s see what the future will bring.”
More info here.
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Related articles:
Warner shuts down ‘pearLyrics’ song lyrics lookup companion application for Apple iTunes – December 07, 2005
pearLyrics 0.5 freeware released: looks up lyrics for Apple iTunes songs – September 12, 2005
I still have pearLyrics in my Public folder, if anyone wants to download it.
Soon, songs will sell with album art, lyrics, body measurements, etc. This is a blip.
http://homepage.mac.com/dogfriend/FileSharing4.html
They knew exactly what they were saying in that first letter, but the backlash was too great for them, so they back track. Losers.
MW: Movement. It says it all.
No doubt there will be a fee involved to view “accurate” lyrics …
Thanks, dogfriend, much appreciated.
i subscribe to maccentral.com’s newsletter and this story was the main subject. I know maccentral/macworld contacted warner/chapplle and got no response. i think w/c wanted to by pass the pr nightmare.
It just goes to show if people put heat on, that we can influence decisions made by the soulless degenerates at these record co’s. Keep this info in the back of your minds because we are going to have to continue to fight in years to come.
Hooray! Christmas time, everyone:) I never stopped using pearlyrics and never would have:)
ah fooey
a lot of times the lyrics printed in the actual CD sleeve are not 100% accurate….
I can see where the music industry is headed.. you’ll soon have to pay a fee if you want to sing the song out loud
idiots
p.s. i see a music exec reading this post right now, and saying, “that’s a great idea!”
MW – true
it so is……
Did you know?
The song “Ina Goda da Vida” by Iron Butterfly was supposed to be “In the Garden of Eden” but no one could understand the lead singer, so it became “Ina Goda da Vida”
Good thing pearLyrics wasn’t around then.
still can not download pearLyrics from their website though…
John Roberts I think you’re right: In time these blood suckers will try to extort cash from “officially licensed” lyrics sites. Fsk ’em.
Let the real music fans update the errors as they find them and let it be a community effort, ala Wiki
For example, I recently realized the lyrics for “Wart Hog” by the Ramones being fed into my iTunes off the ‘Net was way off. So I corrected it and sent a note to the site admin. Granted, that track is rough to here what Dee Dee was growlin’
Rock on Perworks!
It would be smarter fort the record companies to provide the lyrics for free (otherwise, people will just guess as close as they can), but have official sites, and then programs that access those sites would include advertising for the artist with links to places to purchase the music. I mean, who wants to pay for lyrics? I think they can, however, use it for good PR and to drive traffic to their own Web sites and to help provide the infrastructure (well, billboards anyway) to drive traffic to legal online options.
the reason why the company apologized is actually a legal reason, and the company receiving the letter has acquiesced all too easily.
in this kind of situation, it is legal for warner to have sent a letter to pearlyrics advising pearlyrics that warner believes pearlyrics to be in violation of its patents and/or trademarks. it is an advisory letter.
however, if the letter warner sends is threatening in an abusive sense, such as threatening to shut down pearlyrics, or to make sure that pearlyrics will not be able to operate as a company, this is considered abusive under the law, and pearlyrics may have the right to igore the letter, and in fact, sue warner for threatening them.
this is the only reason why warner apoogised, and in fact, apologized for specifically being abusive.
pearlyrics caved in all to quickly. in fact, warner has succeeded in all aspects now.
Hell, even official lyrics don’t always match the track they come with.
Oh, Lord Byron said it already. OK this then: The old MacAmp/MACAST had a plugin that would scroll lyrics in perspective like the StarWars opening text though they weren’t synch’ed. I’d’a thought we’d have something better by now.
In the Garden of Eden (dogfriend) – are you Sirius? I didn’t think anyone cared, heheh.
I find Warner’s actions here to be at the ugliest level of pure unadulterated, disgusting, greed. I don’t have time to look up enough adjectives to describe the level of distaste I have for Warner, caused by this matter.
People want to know what the hell the crappy lyrics are to some stupid songs they already probably purchased and Warner wants to figure out how to make money on it.
There is nothing entertaining about the entertainment industry these days.
When the internet gets to the point where you have to ante up for EVERYTHING than that’s the time I move on. Fsck it, I’m not paying to LOOK at lyrics!
After what hass happened to Sony, Warner is definitely not going to want to develop a reputation that spreads across the internet and becomes fact via numbers. Smart move to back off on this one.
“The song “Ina Goda da Vida” by Iron Butterfly was supposed to be “In the Garden of Eden” but no one could understand the lead singer, so it became “Ina Goda da Vida”
Good thing pearLyrics wasn’t around then.”
i agree. that very good “head” music wouldn’t have been the same with the original lyrics.
http://funny2.com/lyrics.htm
http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Misinterpreted/Lyrics.php
“…was that a lot of lyrics were not perfectly accurate or even completely wrong at all.”
Surely that isn’t grammatical, even in America!
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