Rap Genius butts heads with music industry

The age of the internet has undoubtedly blurred the line between distribution and theft and made it difficult to know where to stand without the use of intellectual property experts. Constantly, the terms that may have seen like sound definitions before have become less rigid.

Speaking of sound, we have a situation in which the music industry is once again up in arms, this time over a website called RapGenius.com, which allows users to post, annotate and "translate" the lyrics of rap songs (there are also sub-sites such as Rock Genius, Poetry Genius, and News Genius, in which everything from the scripts of Breaking Bad episodes to full chapters from Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" get the same treatment.)

Naturally, the National Music Publisher's Association has taken issue with this free service, and challenged it on grounds of infringement, even though the site claims it has obtained licenses legally through Sony.

AllThingsD featured a statement from the company, who seem fairly upbeat and jocular about the affair, while at the same time grandiose about the purpose of their site.

"Rap Genius is not a lyrics site, nor is it a music site," they write. "Rap Genius is a monument to human knowledge. Like the Talmud before us, our goal is to add context to all important texts in people's lives."

So, how does one litigate or defend a project that massive? It may take the experience of an Arizona business lawyer that can successfully respond to any issue and help find the legal underpinnings that are most relevant.

Categorised in: Entertainment Law

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