NMPA Sends Takedown Notices to 50 Sites, Including Rap Genius ⇥ billboard.com

Alex Pham, Billboard:

The [National Music Publishers Association] said it has sent take-down notices to 50 sites identified in an October report by University of Georgia researcher David Lowery as likely not having licenses to publish lyrics. The notices demand that the sites obtain licenses or remove copyrighted lyrics from their sites.

While most of the sites targeted are crummy sites filled with ads, Rap Genius explains the lyrics they publish in depth. It’s a more scholarly resource, annotating lyrics and segments with meaning. If anything, it adds value to a work; it certainly doesn’t subtract value. You’d think that would be covered under fair use.