[redbaron]

I love the fact that the so called (and i will use the next term extremely loosely) "Christian" record labels are the stingiest and most shark-infested of all of them. Even secular labels while pressuring OLGA they are still having to let them (after quite a fight) distribute songs. With a copyright notice left intact, and a pointer to the original holder of the copyright, and assuming you are making no money off of the material i'm pretty sure that there is no legal claim for them.

this is how olga has existed for many many years, and still has lyrics on the chord charts. it's pretty helpful, especially when you're trying to hear a really subtle chord change on a finger-picked song.

I'm really not terribly suprised that this type of action has been pulled (Thank the RIAA... they want to legally hack you now too! Tell the legislature to say no!), but it's sad none the less.

Do we have any lawyers around here who deal a lot in copyright law? I'll look around, but i'm fairly sure that you can legally redistribute it in some regard, and if you are bringing them customers (especially if you stress the money you make them)

I may have more on this later. If anyone's interested that is.

[elijah77jc]

i asked shaun groves what he thought about artists that would post their chords and lyrics on their websites and why he didn't do it and i thought some of y'all might want to see his answer.

Second question: Again it's a publishing
issue. Those artists are allowed to do so by
their publishers. To be fair to my publisher,
I've never asked them if I could post the
chords. BUT I think that many people could
figure out what I'm playing - at least the basic
chords - without much trouble and become
better musicians in the process. I learned
how to play guitar and piano that way.

You also have to look at the artists you
mentioned. They're all worship leaders who
write and make music to give the church and
individuals tools with which to worship God in
song. For the most part that is not my goal. I
have a few songs that could be used for
congregational worship and if someone
wanted the chords to those songs they could
do a search on the internet and find my
publishers site (Brentwood-Benson Music
Publishing) which I believe is
creativeworship.com and download the lead
sheet. Or they could sit down with their
instrument and figure out the five chords used.
I purposefully try to only use basic chord
progressions in congregational worship
music for that reason. I want it to be easy to
play and learn and lead.

ALSO, I don't think those artists you mentioned
with the possible exception of Mercy Me have
songbooks - though I don't know that for sure.
For me a songbook is part of my publishers
income from me in exchange for helping me
get a record deal in the first place so you could
know these songs even existed. ANd for me
to post the chords would be to rob them of that
income. You would have no reason to buy
their book.

Just sit down and figure it out. That's free and
a lot more fun. And maybe I'll ask if I can post
chords on the next record without hurting their
bottom line.

Hope that helps.

SG