Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

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Hey @BanjoBen, I have a serious suggestion for the website.
I just saw this post from @Mark_Rocka : Cool ending tag I found on Facebook

And I thought maybe there is a lot of great knowledge here that gets piled away by recent threads. Maybe we could have a dedicated section for licks / study material such as this one. The posts could be organized by instrument and by difficulty level or style and in alphabetical order maybe?

It would be great to establish the criteria for these posts to be tabbed out and properly explained, like a mini class, just the way mark did it. I know this is not an easy thing to set up, but it would be awesome and surely enrich the service you offer here.

There is a facebook page that kinda does that but I find the same problems happens, licks get lost and some are poorly presented. Food for thought
Much love - Cheers

6 Likes

Great idea, but fraught with peril. I suspect the Copyright Police would be around soon.
(Full disclosure: I would rather eat a bug than go on Facebook. As a friend of mine once said, “When it comes to the internet, if it’s free, you are the product.”)
Facebook walks a very fine legal line since technically they do not provide any content, merely a place for it to be displayed. As such, they are not responsible for anything, according to the Communications Act of 1996. That’s also why Facebook has been so reluctant to stop fake news or Russian interference or whatever. As soon as they stick a corporate finger in there, they open themselves up for a lot of issues. That’s also why you noticed "the same problems happens, licks get lost and some are poorly presented. " That’s because Facebook has no "quality control, " which would mean they were editing, modifying or changing the content, thus inviting lawyers to lunch.
This site is different. Ben DOES provide content, and we pay him for it. Copyright Police love that! They know his customers all want popular songs, so if he’s not diligent he will soon be getting letters that say things like “cease & desist” and “royalties owed per incident.”
Somewhere I recall a video where Ben says something to the effect of, “My goal is to get you off the tabs and playing the banjo because you understand the banjo.” (Not an exact quote.) If he established a page for any old tab that comes along and turned a blind eye to copyrighted tabs, he might lose his other eye as well.
No one wants that to happen! (except the Copyright Police. They love saying “Do you know how many times your website promoted the illegal use of music?”
And since I’m naturally suspicious, I suspect there are many performers right now, unable to perform because of Covid restrictions, who are taking a good hard look at other sources of income, especially when they are still making payments on a parked tour bus.

5 Likes

Both of you have great points, and I appreciate it. Let’s continue as we are right now and I’ll ask my lawyers about this.

5 Likes