LyricFind.com, a Canadian web site dedicated to posting song lyrics, has voluntarily disabled the display of all the copyrighted works in its database while it tries to sign a licensing deal with the CMRRA. The site, initially launched in April as a hobby by four University of Waterloo students, has the lyrics to almost 30,000 songs by more than 4,000 artists. LyricFind.com Inc. chief executive Darryl Ballantyne says he decided to seek out copyright clearance after being approached by other companies that wanted to syndicate the lyrics from his site but were concerned with the legal aspects.

“As we grew and grew and grew, we realized that eventually they (music publishers) were going to find out about us. It was in our best interest to approach them beforehand and be pro-active about it rather than them coming to us. If they found out about us and came to us, it would most likely result in them telling us to shut down without being willing to talk about licensing.”

LyricFind has submitted a proposal to the CMRRA where an undisclosed fee would be paid to the publisher of a specific lyric each time it’s displayed on its site or another site that syndicates the content.

“We’ve set it in a way so it will be less than the advertising revenue that we currently bring in, so we’re not going to be losing money on it,” says Ballantyne, who adds that the site is currently receiving about $12,000 a month in advertising through the Toronto-based Rydium agency. Rydium covers the costs of LyricFind’s server, its biggest expense, and Ballantyne says the site is making a profit. The company’s four principals aren’t drawing salaries but are banking revenues to cover existing and future expenses.

CMRRA president David Basskin applauds LyricFind’s decision to seek licensing and will put its proposal in front of his board of directors before tabling it with publishers. “I am doubtful that every single publisher we represent is going to want to go along, but we’d sure like to do business on behalf as many as possible,” he says.

LyricFind initially took its lyrics from other web sites, but site visitors have since submitted thousands of lyrics - some which come directly from album liner notes and others that are interpreted. The site, which Ballantyne says attracts about 13,000 visitors a day, also includes music news and a message board.

Ballantyne hopes to post the lyrics back online as soon as possible. He also wants to introduce other new elements to the site once the licensing issues are taken care of, including allowing independent acts to submit their lyrics and be compensated for each viewing.

The U.S. equivalent of the CMRRA, the Harry Fox Agency, shut down a Swiss web site called International Lyrics Server almost two years ago after claiming that it infringed the copyrights of a number of National Music Publishers Association members. The two parties later reached a technical compromise that allowed many of the lyrics to remain online, but forced users to download a “digital certificate” from Harry Fox that prevents them from copying the lyrics.

- Steve McLean