Legal issues

The business model that many Internet tablature sites follow is based on the supply of free goods. Many use advertising to generate revenue, often to cover server hardware and maintenance costs. Composers and music publishers might argue that free Internet tablature sites are simply competing corporate publishers that distribute music publications without paying royalties to those who own the copyrights. If free Internet tablature sites claim to provide an educational service or are non-profit, they bear the burden to justify their service legal under the fair use doctrine of copyright law. The legality of free Internet tablature served by tablature websites is still in dispute largely because websites have thus far only been threatened with legal action; the issue has yet to be taken to court.

The Music Publishers' Association (MPA) has recently taken the position that distributing free tablature online is illegal and is pushing to shut down websites that offer free tablature. MPA president Lauren Keiser says that their goal would be for owners of free tablature services to face fines and even imprisonment. Several websites that offer free tablature have already taken their tablature offline until a solution or compromise is found.

As of Monday December 12, 2005, tabs of copyrighted music were considered illegal by the music industry, and numerous prominent sites providing tabs, such as Mxtabs.net, had closed down. However, as of February 23, 2006, the owners of Mxtabs put the website back online with a letter explaining their position. In short, they believe that the purpose of Mxtabs is to "aid musicians in learning their instruments." They say that Mxtabs has accounted for as much as $3000 a month in sheet music sales, and offers many tabs that do not have equivalent sheet music published, so Mxtabs and similar sites are the only place that musicians can find a way to play these songs. The letter concludes by pointing out that tabs have never been proven to be illegal, then requesting that sheet music companies contact Mxtabs in order to create a system of tab licensing.

On July 17, 2006, Guitar Tab Universe (GTU) posted a letter on its homepage that its ISP had been jointly threatened with legal action by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) and the MPA "on the basis that sharing tablature constitutes copyright infringement". In response, GTU's site owner immediately created the Music Student and Teacher Organization (MuSATO) to rally support to keep Internet guitar tablature free of charge on the basis of fair use in education. MuSATO argues that Internet guitar tablature does not infringe upon publishers' copyrights because it does not come from pre-existing printed resources and are not entirely accurate representations of songs. Furthermore, Internet guitar tablature enables an educational relationship between music student (the one who downloads tabs) and music teacher (the one who created the tab). Guitar tab websites foster this educational relationship by making this tablature freely available to the public. MuSATO is still in development.

GuitarTabs.com has been contacted by the NMPA and MPA with similar copyright infringement allegations. The NMPA and MPA have also threatened with similar legal action to that of the one facing Guitar Tab Universe. A copy of the certified letter received by the site owner, along with a brief note similar to the one posted on Mxtabs from the site owner, has been posted on the website.

Bass & GuitarMasta.net have been taken off of the Internet as of November 9, 2006. The website is back online as of December 28, 2006.

The tablature debate was featured on NPR's Morning Edition in a segment entitled "Music Industry Goes After Guitar Tablature Websites" on August 7, 2006.

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