wolf@ittvax.UUCP (Mary Anne Wolf) (08/18/83)
I do not think we should have a net.music.lyrics newsgroup. I understand that there are all sorts of problems posting song-lyrics to netnews. For example, a while ago, someone asked for the complete lyrics of "American Pie". I have a book of Don McLean's music, which includes the lyrics, but I think I'd get in trouble if I posted something I copied from that book to the net. As another example, someone recently requested the lyrics to "Candle in the Wind". I think my copy of "Yellow Brick Road" includes an insert with the lyrics, but, again, I think I'd get sued if I copied it to the net. I don't know what the rules are if one figures out the lyrics by ear, although I think I remember someone who posted a copy of a Monty Python song (which I suppose he had figured out by ear) posting a follow-up article to the effect that he had given the publisher of a book of Monty-Python lyrics (financial?) compensation for damages, (although he hadn't know about the book when he posted the lyrics,) and that we should deleted any copy of those lyrics we had saved. I am not flaming people who ask about lyrics, because I am not sure what the laws really are, but I think we should consider the legal problems before starting a net.music.lyrics If any reader knows the laws about this, please post them or send me a copy. Mary-Anne Wolf (ittvax!wolf or decvax!yale-comix!mwolf)