"The Best Of Opeth" ..guitar book?

[wankerness]

If they release your tabs, you should sue. Of course, it would be hard to tell if they did take the benefit of your work, or it was coincidental.

I should, but I doubt I can, since it's not like I released them officially with a copyright through a publisher or anything. Who knows, I"ll ask around to see what options I'd have if they do that. I might even email the guy in charge of the transcription department in regards to this and see what he says (just to see if like, they're finished with the transcriptions yet, or to see if he blurts out that they used mine but now he'll remember to give me credit omfg, etc). My prediction is that I won't know till the darn thing comes out.

Even though I would like an Opeth tab book for reading ease, I pray that this turns out like similar tabbooks, like say the Porcupine Tree - Deadwing one, where the tabs are all absolutely horrible compared to the ones on the internet, or that they did songs which I haven't transcribed. ;p

 

[Melkor66]

So getting that book..awesome!!

 

[hibernal_dream]

I should, but I doubt I can, since it's not like I released them officially with a copyright through a publisher or anything. Who knows, I"ll ask around to see what options I'd have if they do that.

There are many other possibilities outside the area of copyright. The US is strong on the theft of ideas, even non-original ones.

 

[AnTz0r]

erik.... what can i say man, that sucks. i'm not really surprised by it though, the tab book business is even more shady than the rest of the music business. i for one can't believe that bands like opeth don't take matters into their own hands when it comes to this. the quality of user-made tabs is very high, it's not a very big investment to let a fan compile them into a book and then use a print-on-demand service for example, or just let the record company pay for the first books. i don't see the need for another profit raking company.

if i were you, i'd wait until it comes out and see if they ripped you. legal action will get you into a lot of trouble, so much is certain. maybe you can join the fray with the other tab sites, they have lawyers who already looked into the issue. an interesting point is that in the debate over the copyright on transcriptions is that for normal tab sites, they claim that they ripped their tabs. obviously in this case the roles could be reversed.

either way i don't see much in the legal road, it will tie you up for years and cost you a lot, unless you can find a lawyer who will do it for free or on no cure no pay basis.

if i were you, i'd just message mikael and maybe opeth management and see how they feel about it. especially with mikael, i can't see how they can condone this. opeth has been an underground band for a long time and even when they weren't as big as now you've made a big contribution by supplying fans with tabs, enabling other fans to learn opeth's songs and thereby getting more appreciation for the band (like i have).

screwing you over, opeth will also make a profit on your work for free. that's an insult to a fan. i really wonder how they will respond.

i for one am very grateful for your work, hope you will keep doing it (your bass tabs are very high-quality!) and will boycott the book when it will come out if they ripped you off. let's see how it develops, but we as fans should not just let it pass.

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

This item has been on Amazon for ages, I never heard anything official from the band until this thread, which is why I didn't buy it. http://www.amazon.com/Best-Opeth/dp/1423406443/ref=sr_1_25/002-7938841-0114433?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178118498&sr=8-25, weird thing is, why is it for sale when it's not finished

 

[Benighted Joe]

It's true there are plans for it. I don't know who's done the tabs but I have to check em since it needs to be quite accurate if we're gonna endorse it. However, I haven't read tabs since I was a teenager...
Fucking boring work to tell you the truth but we know a lot of you guys out there are interested in learning how to play the songs...

I haven't even started cheking them out yet...geeez!!!
M

Thank you, Mikael! Thank you for making this world a better place.
Okay that's a lame expression, but it's true. Mmm.. Would it be too
much to ask if you could sign each and every copy?

No but, I'd really LOVE a copy! One more 'Opethish' thing to look forward to!

 

[wankerness]

if i were you, i'd just message mikael and maybe opeth management and see how they feel about it. especially with mikael, i can't see how they can condone this. opeth has been an underground band for a long time and even when they weren't as big as now you've made a big contribution by supplying fans with tabs, enabling other fans to learn opeth's songs and thereby getting more appreciation for the band (like i have).

screwing you over, opeth will also make a profit on your work for free. that's an insult to a fan. i really wonder how they will respond.

That is not a bad idea, but I don't really know how to go about doing that...it's been years since Mikael's email address was up on opeth.com He doesn't seem to read the forums enough to be sure to get his attention through them, so I dunno. Yeah, thanks for the support anyway, I'm probably going to try writing something to the higher-ups at Hal Leonard right away so they're at least aware of the issue and it doesn't get swept under the carpet by that complete dick that runs the transcription department who I dealt with before.

 

[Metal_Rocker]

This sounds good. I can never rely on the tabs I find on the net and my ear sucks.

 

[CorpseDeception]

I'll probably buy it just for the hell of it. Unless wankerness did get ripped off, then I'll boycott it, too.

 

[biggsy]

thats sounds shit wanker... i dont even play guitar, but if i did, and i was going to buy the book, id boycott it too!

 

[Vegetaman]

It's true there are plans for it. I don't know who's done the tabs but I have to check em since it needs to be quite accurate if we're gonna endorse it. However, I haven't read tabs since I was a teenager...
Fucking boring work to tell you the truth but we know a lot of you guys out there are interested in learning how to play the songs...

I haven't even started cheking them out yet...geeez!!!
M

Holy crap, this will own.

 

[Vegetaman]

Second reply, holy shit I'm furious about this. I seriously will not be surprised in the least if they DO rip me off. I honestly did apply to that company (it's based about an hour from where I live) and honestly did send them several of my opeth tabs, all of which they absorbed, and then sent me some bullshit test where I had to transcribe some pearl jam song, which I did, and after not hearing from them for a month or two I inquired, upon which they said "oh you didn't pass our transcription test, buy some more of our tabbooks to improve your transcription skills."

Of course, they'll probably sue ME for putting my tabs on the internet if this comes out, even if they've been there for years before this book comes out and even if they directly rip them for their fucking book. This makes me never want to transcribe again, seriously.

Now that is some major bullshit. Hopefully they didn't rip you off.

 

[rrjii2000]

Does anyone have any recent news about this?

 

[Carta's]

It came out and some parts were total crap.

 

[wankerness]

I only saw the first 2/3 of the BLEAK tab, which suggested that they didn't rip me off - it had some parts better than my tab, and some parts inexplicably horrible. Apparently the rest of the book is similar, and does some 100% retarded things like having some of the guitars int heir arrangements of Ghost Reveries songs in the proper tuning and others (IN THE SAME SONG) in standard/Drop D. No clue what they were thinking. I'm curious to see the rest of it but really dont' want to buy it cause Hal Leonard is evil.

 

[Valerie]

Well wankerness I'm glad they didn't take your work, though to be honest I didn't know song transcriptions could be copyrighted. I guess that's like translations on books, which I know can have copyrights.

 

[Shemsu'Hor]

The only tab books I have are a couple Metallica ones from years ago. They're all printed and distributed by Hal Leonard but the actual transcriptions were done by a company called Cherry Lane Music I think, and they're pretty spot on, much better than any tabs I've found on the internet.

 

[rrjii2000]

The only tab books I have are a couple Metallica ones from years ago. They're all printed and distributed by Hal Leonard but the actual transcriptions were done by a company called Cherry Lane Music I think, and they're pretty spot on, much better than any tabs I've found on the internet.

Yea, Cherry Lane's transcriptions were quite good. I too have some old Metallica and a few Iron Maiden books from them. Is the Opeth book a total mess, or are at-least most song correct?

Go Steelers!

 

[Shemsu'Hor]

Yea, Cherry Lane's transcriptions were quite good. I too have some old Metallica and a few Iron Maiden books from them. Is the Opeth book a total mess, or are at-least most song correct?

Go Steelers!

I 2nd the woot for the Steelers, and where in WV are you from?

 

[biggsy]

maybe they should have stolen from you wank.