Hey dnquest.I read threads here in the legal issues and disputes and at almost every thread you are saying something bad and in a rude manner to the thread starter.I am just wondering here do not take me wrong.Do you have any good knowledge on what you are saying?
Quite often "something bad" involves telling the OP or someone else in the thread that they have provided advice which is not only wrong - but is
dangerously wrong. If I see someone lighting a match near a gasoline pump, I'm not going to embark on a polite discussion of hydrocarbon chemistry.
The issue here could not be clearer - song lyrics are subject to copyright, and if you are posting song lyrics without permission then you are violating the copyright.
To tell if something is legal by determining whether X number of other people do it is pointless and useless. And that is why DNQuest brought up speeding, for example. DNQuest often states things forcefully, but this one cannot be lightly stated - Posting song lyrics without authorization is copyright infringement. Period. No two ways around it.
Whether or not the licensing and enforcement agencies representing lyricists (in the US, it would be ASCAP) can practically deal with the volume of infringement, or whether they choose to selectively enforce against the "successful" lyrics sites, or whether some of these lyrics sites are hosted in difficult jurisdictions, has absolutely NO bearing on the underlying dead simple answer to the question - posting song lyrics without authorization is copyright infringement. (of course with the minor exception of lyrics for which there is no longer a copyright, and some other uninteresting edge issues)
There is no requirement for a warning, and the liability can be quite large. Furthermore, we have utterly no idea what the penalties might be in whatever jurisdiction the OP resides or intends to host this proposed database.
I, too, become annoyed, and this annoyance can be reflected in the tone of my posts as well, when someone asks a question concerning a proposal that is utterly and clearly unlawful, and uninformed others - to whom it is no skin off their back if the OP is sued - chime in with things to the effect of "It's fine, go right ahead."
Those kinds of answers to a question to which the answer is as clear as this one earn a well-deserved smackdown.
Now, if this was some other sort of forum and someone was asking, "Hey, I see a lot of people selling and smoking weed. I'd like to do it too" the legal answer (in the US) is just as clear. That's entirely separate from the fact that, yes, a lot of others do it, and yes, the law doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But you can't just blithely advise someone to go ahead and do something that might result in serious legal consequences to them, and then be upset because someone has said you are crazy.
