Do guitar tablature websites or websites that provide sheet music have to pay royalties to songs authors?
<p>Do websites that provide guitar tablature or musical notes of popular songs have to pay royalties to song authors or record labels ?</p>

<p>I'm talking about websites like:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.songsterr.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.songsterr.com/</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://synthesiagame.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://synthesiagame.com/</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If one of these websites provides tablatures for my song, without my permission, can I sue them ?</p>

<p>Yes, they do. Generally they don't pay royalties on individual songs, they are more likely to contract for a specific collection of songs or artists, or even an entire label. 
<a href="https://synthesiagame.com/about" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here's what Synthesia</a> says about this on their site.<br>
<a href="https://www.songsterr.com/a/wa/terms" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Songsterr</a> explains this in their terms of service. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Songsterr is backed by U.S.-based Guitar Tabs LLC and it is 100% legal. We have great relationships with music publishers, all of the content provided through our Service is licensed, and we pay a percentage of our revenue as royalties to support music creators.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you find your own work being distributed you could sue, but these services generally provide a way to report such incidents, and you would probably want to start there rather than going directly to court. </p>

copyright music