Why...
 

... is it that most new bands online don't include their song lyrics in their page? I'm sure there are many different possible reasons and they must vary from band to band, but it kind of annoys me that I can't read the lyrics from most unsigned bands, because that's what I'm used to doing with sleeve notes. I like doing it and want to do it more often, but I can't because they don't usually make the lyrics accessible.

What I'm asking is, if you were in a band why would you NOT put your lyrics online. Surely you'd know them! It can't be copyright because if you have put it into the public domain as clear text - with any kind of electronic data about the date of the file's creation - then your right should be more defensible than if you just have sound recordings of the word, where a copyist can question what you were actually singing. Although maybe most bands don't actually understand copyright.

So why else? Laziness??

because they dont WANT people knowing them?

saying most bands don't understand copyright is a bit of a generalisation though!! just cause they play music doesnt mean they're uneducated :p all the bands on our label know it.. one of them even drew up their own contract.

most up-and-coming bands' lyrics are not copyrighted. and even if they were, putting their lyrics out into the public domain put them at risk for being stolen and used by more namely bands. and if a more namely band uses their lyrics, such as in a hit song, and then the original bands cd gets more widely promoted, most people would accuse the original band of ripping off the more namely band, contrary to the actual.

The United States Copyright Office says:

Which means that all up and coming bands lyrics are copyrighted, automatically, provided they are created in a fixed form. That means an audio recording or in text.

Personally, I think its a combination of people being paranoid about having their music 'stolen' and the same people being ignorant to the actual working of copyright law. I would WANT people to copy my work, so that I can claim my money from them!

What's the point of writing lyrics and putting the audio version out for people to listen to if you don't want people to know the lyrics? If you really don't want people to know your lyrics you wouldn't sing any lyrics, or maybe wouldn't put any of your music into the public domain.

^but what if they misenterpret it? i believe like DRMO that they should post their lyrics as well.

It's just as easy to misinterpret lyrics when they're on paper too.

no its not "just as easy" when youve got the actual written lyrics infront of you, rather than just what you thought you heard them say when you heard the song on the radio or whatever.

Ah hang on, you're talking about actually hearing a word wrong and getting confused, I was referring to the actual interpretation of the lyrics. Because you could hear the lyrics perfectly and see the exact same ones on paper and still not understand the song.

I think you can misinterpret a song, if the person/people who wrote the song wanted to communicate something specific and you got a different message then I believe that would be misinterpretation. It doesn't necessarily mean that you got less from the song (you may even got more from it), but you could interpret it in a way they didn't intend.

I don't have as much of an issue with lacking lyrics for bands that create more enigmatic, musically complex or instrumentally focussed styles (for example, Tool who I don't love, nor think are progressive as you well know, but they aren't basic either and for such a style I'm ok with hearing the whole thing as the lyrics and vocals aren't the sole focus.

Its bands like this (and better versions of the same)

http://www.myspace.com/bootlegpoets

That particularly annoy me with their lack of readable lyrics, as I'm pretty sure that when your backing is simple and repetitive, the vocals and words are should be communicating something good and part of that, to me, is having lyrics that everybody can get into. Yes, the example I gave are a local unsinged band, who I thought were a particularly obvious example of my particular gripe.