Frank, publicity could be a two-edged sword. BTW, a headline such as "Who Controls the Internet" probably would draw yawns these days, because the copyright issue is already discussed a lot. Maybe "Does Folk Music Still belong to Folks?" would be better.

Jack WICJ has a *very* good point that the best defense may actually be compliance with the law. *This is probably NOT the same as compliance with HFA/NMPA!!!*

The DT database already has permission from several publishers and organizations (Dick has the details) to publish their material without royalties. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

Max, I agree too that we need a banner now, addressed to music publishers. It should link to a page where you invite them to comment on the copyright controversy (not likely!), state if the DT contains any of their songs, and indicate whether they will give you a royalty-free right to carry the songs or would rather have you take it off the DB.

I think having this mechanism for a publisher to protect their copyrighted material would help your legal position immensely. *I also think it's the right thing to do.* We aren't out to pirate copyrighted material, just to share songs.

You might replace any songs that are removed with a statement naming the publisher and stating that they have asked that the song be removed from the database for copyright reasons.

Maybe publicity should focus on this: On the one hand a substantial number of music publishers are willingly working with the DT, and on the other hand we have HFA/NMPA who ain't even willing to share the most basic information regarding what they're complaining about.

Best of luck with all this. - Rita F