By Paul Demery
Guitar sheet music web site MXTabs.net will strum a new tune—a licensed, legal one—when it re-emerges this summer as an online advertising-supported site operated as a unit of its new parent, Musicnotes Inc. Musicnotes recently acquired MXTabs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but MXTabs will operate as part of Guitar Tabs LLC, a Musicnotes subsidiary.
Until it shut down last summer under copyright pressure from the music industry, MXTabs had offered digital versions of guitar sheet music, or tablature, without gaining proper licensing from the producers of the music, Musicnotes says. As part of its plan to bring back MXTabs as a provider of licensed material, Musicnotes last week entered into a licensing agreement with The Harry Fox Agency Inc., which handles licensing for more than 31,000 music publishers. Under terms of the agreement, publishers will share in the online advertising revenue associated with downloads of their music tabs.
“We are excited to have the technology and the expertise to assist publishers and songwriters in monetizing this burgeoning area of interest among musicians, which, until now, has largely not been served in this way,” says Kathleen Marsh, CEO of Musicnotes.
“Musicnotes proves the viability of a copyright-friendly, ad-supported guitar tab web site,” says Gary Churgin, Harry Fox Agency president and CEO.
paul@verticalwebmedia.com
