PearLyrics has been forced off the net by the Warner Chappell music publishing company, and America's Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, plans to launch a campaign against such sites next year, according to BBC News. "MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed."
"I just don't see why PearLyrics should infringe the copyright of Warner Chappell because all I'm doing is searching publicly-available websites," PearLyrics developer Walter Ritter said. "It would be different if they had an alternative service that also provided lyrics online and also integrated [with iTunes] like PearLyrics did. But they don't offer anything like that at all."
The BBC report says that "David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, added his concerns."
"Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said.
