the real book vs the new real book
Real Book In 2004, music publisher Hal Leonard obtained the rights to most of the tunes contained in the original Real Book and published the first legal edition, calling it the Real Book Sixth Edition in tacit acknowledgment of the five previous illegal versions. The cover and binding are identical to the 'old' Real Book, and the books even employ a font which is remarkably similar to the handwritten style of the originals although the new editions are more legible. The other main improvements are that most of the editing mistakes have been corrected; and, of course, every tune has been licensed and the copyright owners are being paid for the use of their intellectual property. The books were initially priced cheaper than the illegal ones were usually sold forâ€”with the stated intention[citation needed] of driving the underground distributors out of business or boosting their own sales of the book. 137 tunes are missing in the 6th edition that were in the 5th, while 90 new tunes have been added.[4]