Nice thread...

Just thought I'd give my 2 cents to why we have not been sued yet. First, the only people we have had problems with are those people who make money off of what we give away for free. (I must stay general here for fear of pissing them off, although the denounce us publicly, they visit us every day)

There are a lot of copyrights owned like investments. Others just get upset that they did a lot of research and worked deals and paid fees to distribute copyrighted material. We do our share of research, but offer it as a free service.

The people that I am truly concerned about are the song- writers. It was there emotion that spilled on the page for these things to exist.

We are a non-profit entity. We put hours and days and weeks of our lives into providing these things to the world. All behind the belief that this makes the world a better place. As elementary schools around the country decide to cut music and art because their diminishing budgets and the lack of their real world importance, we forget about what makes one happy. Sure they'll teach us to get a job, but it is not their responsibility to teach us of the finer things in life. I agree with this too. I do not like the idea of a government regulated institution that acts as an authority on happiness. They are just not qualified. The point is that as budget shaving and practicality trends expand, WE must pick up the effort. This is what the Mudcat and the DigiTrad stand for. When nobody else cares, We'll be at the stairs of The Library of Congress with the DigiTrad Disks in one hand, and the discussion forum in the other, saying "People forgot this stuff."

Bottom line is that we work hard at getting all the permissions and correct copyright information, but because of the lack of funding, lack of volunteers, lack of time, and just the shear size of the collection, we are not perfect.

We are constantly in jeopardy. This will never stop. We hold back some things because of the issue and the fear. We spend our own money on this... we do not make money. We are used as an academic resource by many institutions, colleges, high schools, elementary schools, and even The Library of Congress. We are officially registered as a non-profit corporation. If we do get sued, Dick and I will have more free time and will save some money every month, and whoever sues us will get the worst negative press in history. I will personally ensure that.

Simply, we just try to keep people happy. If we hear an objection, we immediately respond and resolve it. We want to protect the artist. We just have a collection of lyrics that people want to look at, we are not copyright experts, and this is not a copyright resource. Check your facts in an appropriate index like bmi or ascap.

To all of you I'll say as I say to myself when I wonder if I should put a lyric, picture or story up on the site: Just do it. (Uh oh, I hope the Nike people don't object to that.) What we are doing is good and wholesome, and makes the world a better place, and if the capitalists don't like it then they are the bad guys. We should not back down before the fight.

If you know the copyright, by all means include it, if you don't say so, and perhaps one of our other viewers will know. We're just all learning here.

Just some thoughts...