Pascal Fought the Law The case of the International Lyrics Server illustrates that knowledge truly is power. by Mark Jordan ascal de Vries just wanted to know the words to "Smoke On The Water." Two years later his home was raided by Swiss police, his computer equipment was confiscated, and he was the defendant in an international lawsuit filed by a consortium of American music publishers. In dispute was de Vries' Web site, the International Lyrics Server (www.lyrics.ch). At stake was the freedom of information and the Internet. Up until last January, when the Swiss police shut it down, the ILS was one of the most visited and useful music Web sites. Dismayed when he could never find the words to the Deep Purple rock anthem and other songs, de Vries launched the server in February 1997 as a repository for music lyrics. Almost immediately, the site became a haven for anyone who wondered why Jimi Hendrix was excusing himself to kiss a guy or who questioned whether Michael Stipe was actually singing English. Transcriptions of song lyrics were largely submitted by visitors to the site, which numbered as many as 100,000 a day. At its peak the ILS was receiving 300 new transcriptions of lyrics a day. And by the time the police pulled the plug, de Vries had the words to more than 114,500 songs on his server. Swiss police stepped in because of a lawsuit filed by the Harry Fox Agency, the licensing agent for National Music Publishers' Association. Understandably dismayed by reports that their copyrighted material was being distributed free on the Internet, the music publishers filed suit claiming infringement. Initially, de Vries responded by claiming fair use, a legal distinction that says that the lyrics were posted for informational purposes only, not profit. After all, de Vries pointed out, the ILS never charged for lyrics and sold only minimal banner advertising to pay for its upkeep. If the NMPA could shut down the ILS, then could no previously published material be freely and fairly disseminated on the Internet? Has the digital age not only made knowledge power but also a commodity to bought and sold? Unfortunately, these issues aren't likely be addressed any time soon, at least not in this case. A few weeks ago the ILS went back online, though with a vastly reduced database of song lyrics. In exchange for the dropping of all charges, de Vries has entered into an arrangement with the NMPA whereby his site will be linked to the NMPA's new lyric database, Songfile (www.songfile.com). Lyrics will be added to the ILS as the Harry Fox Agency approves them. Critics have charged that the lawsuit was merely a way for the NMPA to eliminate any competition for its own Web site and perhaps lessen the burden of starting Songfile by appropriating someone else's database. That may all be true, but it doesn't change the fact that the publishers still own the copyrights. Meanwhile, some former ILS contributors have taken up the banner and started new, smaller lyric databases --Lyric World (www.lyricworld.com) and Lyric Headquarters -- that are linked to each other but maintained separately, making it harder and more expensive for the NMPA to root them out. The spirit of the Internet lives. n Mixing It Up Custom CDs put listeners in charge. The CD revolution has not been without its casualties. Prominent in the minds of many is the demise of the beloved mix tape. It used to be that music fans could dig through their record collections, put all their favorite tunes on one cassette tape, and cart it around for enjoyment on a portable stereo or car tape deck. But as the compact disc -- already the killer of vinyl -- tightens its grip on the cassette format as well, that luxury is a vanishing one, available only to those willing to invest in pricey CD-burner or mini-disc technology. Fortunately, a handful of Internet music stores -- CDNow (www.cdnow.com), CustomDisc.com (www.customdisc.com), Musicmaker (www. musicmaker.com), and My Cd (www.my-cd.com) chief among them -- are not only bringing the mix tape into the 21st century but in some ways are actually improving upon it. By licensing individual songs and making them available over the Internet, these Web sites allow customers to make their own mix CD for about the price of a regular store-bought disc. Click onto any of these sites and you can choose up to 70 minutes of music per CD from the site's selection of songs, combining any artists or genres you want. After paying for your custom CD over the Web with a credit card, you can download your music and play it over your computer, on your stereo through a computer connection, or, if you do have a CD burner, just press your own disc to take with you wherever. There is also an option in which the Web site actually presses your custom CD for you and ships it out that day. (If you prefer, most companies will ship your CD to you overnight, but, of course, the quicker the delivery the higher the charge.) There is a downside to all this, however. The record companies, still wary that the future of music retail is to be found on the Internet, have been reluctant to license much of their catalogs to such companies. Basically, any recording still in print that might have even a chance of selling in a record store is unavailable, which rules out just about all of the popular music of the '90s. But as technologies such as MP3 take hold and more and more people begin buying music online, custom CDs could well become the preferred music format. After all, it's rare that you like every song on a artist's album. -- Mark Jordan