The Alphabet Goons can suck it, Part 3.
Acronym: MPA
Stands for: Music Publishers Association, not to be confused with National Music Publishers Association since they are involved with lyrics instead. Apparently these people are assholes with an agenda since they don't even have the creativity to come up with different names for their fascist…I mean advocacy groups.
Mission: Give credit to president Lauren Keiser (a man with obvious gender issues) who has actually been quoted as saying that if authorities "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective". He comes straight out with what he really wants. Yes, he wants imprisonment for people who make available...wait for it...instrument tabs. Not even actual, honest sheet music, but tablature. Basically, these combinations of lines and numbers give people a rough idea of how to play a song on guitar, bass, or drums, and Mr(s). Keiser wants people imprisoned for providing tabs online. The argument can be made that tabs make musicians lazy, but damnit I like being lazy, so let me have my tabs. Also, has anybody noticed that local bands in small bars can cover whatever song they want when performing live and nobody cares? Those people learn by two methods: either by ear which requires natural talent, or by printing out the tab, playing it, and making modifications so that it sounds right. Nobody buys sheet music because of limited availability, high prices, and difficulty in reading notes, just like nobody buys typewriters because you can't view porn on them.
Business Model: Provide books of sheet music for mainstream bands at music stores. Nevermind the fact that music books don't even exist for the bands that I like to cover, or that tablature is only an interpretation of how a song should be played and, especially for bass, are often incorrect or incomplete. I guess the MPA can team up with the Food Channel next and threaten litigation against recipe sites, or team up with tourist boards to attack people who describe their vacation experiences on their personal pages.
What they should do: Lick my nuts twice, and then just disperse and be done with. The MPA has no power outside of the U.S., and there are enough English speaking countries with tab sites that the MPA has just enough power to piss people off here. The beef that the RIAA and MPAA have with P2P networks is halfway legitimate, but the MPA is just absolutely nuts wanting imprisonment for people who exchange information about a rough idea on how they would go about playing a song.
What you should do: Write the MPA and inform them that you are boycotting sheet music books due to their threats of legal action against tab sites. Enjoy great tab sites such as mxtabs.net and bassmasta.net while they are still around, and use Google to find tabs from outside the US if American sites start dropping like flies.
Back to find another rant about an acronym composed of fascists...