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The National Music Publishers’ Association filed complaints on Monday, August 24th against two companies alleging copyright infringement for their unauthorized use of song lyrics.

The companies – Motive Force and LiveUniverse – both operate web sites which allow users to read and search for song lyrics from thousands of songs. Both companies also use many “web 2.0″ features to allow users to access the lyric database in Facebook, iTunes, and other third-party applications.

A look at one of the complaints reveals that the Publishers’ Association is alleging, among other things, copyright infringement on the basis of unauthorized public display – one of the few times this particular exclusive right is relevant to musicians. The Association also alleges this infringement is not innocent: both companies, they claim, earn significant revenue from advertising, soliciting donations, and driving traffic to their other ventures.

Billboard reports that NMPA President David Israelite has been leading the NMPA in an effort over the last three years to protect songwriters’ lyrics by contacting hundreds of unauthorized lyric sites providing them opportunities to properly license their content or risk a lawsuit. Says Israelite, “Music fans are the biggest losers when licensed businesses, like LyricFind, Gracenote and TuneWiki can’t survive and prosper because unlicensed, illegal businesses are allowed to thumb their noses at the law.”

Publishing.

This one word has caused more musicians to pull their hair out than any other word in the music business. It’s a tricky and confusing subject – confusion that’s aided by the unintuitive nature of copyright law, the use of archaic terms left over from the history of music publishing, and the general craziness of the music business.

But music publishing is one of the most important aspects of the music business. Every musician wishing to earn money from their music needs to have at least a general understanding of publishing.

If you’ve been following the Music Business 101 series here on GrindEFX, you should have a leg up on copyright and licensing, which form the basis for music publishing. If you haven’t read them yet and are unfamiliar with those concepts, why not check them now – I’ll wait! Read more…

It appears John Legend stands to be one of the few major artists preparing for his future. According to Cherry Lane Publishing, both parties agreed to extend their relationship with an exclusive joint venture named “HomeSchool Music”. This newly formed deal will allow Legend to sign and guide various writers.

“I’ve had such a great, successful working relationship with Cherry Lane. It felt right to expand the partnership and create a new business venture. I look forward to working with them further and finding and developing new talent.” – John Legend

Source: Cherry Lane Music Publishing

The stage is set. The audience quiets as the house lights go down. The curtain opens, and a single spotlight trains itself on you. You pull out your cell phone. It rings, playing the latest hot pop song.

After 30 seconds, the cell phone goes silent. You take a bow, the audience applauses. Thank you for coming to tonight’s performance, please have a safe drive home!

Sound absurd? Not if ASCAP gets its way. The Performing Rights Organization wishes to have ringtones classified as public performances under copyright law. Everytime your phone rings, so do ASCAP’s cash registers.

On Friday, the Electronic Freedom Foundation posted a story covering ASCAP’s brief in a legal fight between it and AT&T seeking this very thing.

Read more…