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Canadian iTunes Music Store Opens
Trillan writes "After appearing on December 1st, iTunes music store Canada is now officially open. Price is only $0.99 CDN (about $0.83 US) per song, so it's less expensive than the US store. This is probably fair since our CDs are usually cheaper here, too, at least on the west coast."
Is it possible for Americans (USA) to buy songs from Canada's iTunes?
"The Best of Bob and Doug Mackenzie."
Take off!
About time. I don't see why it took this long. Was there some massive tech barriers, that restrained the opening, or was it Canadas version of the RIAA?
Under the Canadian Copywrite Law, "personal copying" is permitted. This means I can download all the music I could ever want. The only drawback is a small tax on every cd purchased. thats ok though, i dont buy cd's often.
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
No. The lawyers for record companies won't allow it; music sales are balkanized into seperate markets by country.
This is why it takes Apple so long to roll out in each country -- they must negotiate rights for each market, one by one.
To purchase from the Canadian iTMS, you must have a credit card with a Canadian address.
Please Apple. Please.
Australia/NZ now are the last English-speaking countries not to get iTunes so I hope we get it soon (as in the next 6 months).
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Any Canadian out there who wants to be my best friend?
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The reason for the different stores is the different laguage we use here up north. Instead of oh, say, "Pay Now!" It will say "Pay Now Eh?!"
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
Cheaper CDs, cheaper pharmaceuticals, affordable health care ... sounds like paradise! Would you Canadians just invade us, please?
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
Keep in mind that the taxes in Canada are higher on average. In Ontario, we pay a total of 15% tax.
Also, keep in mind, if a can of coke goes for $1 US, the same can will sell in Canada for $1 CAD.
I find it interesting that Canadians right now enjoy more 'freedom' wrt music sharing/copying etc. We are allowed to 'share' our music with friends in exchange for a small tax on CDRs and MP3 players.
Also, our AACs from Apple are cheaper ($0.84 today).
The most interesting part? IP is not part of NAFTA, if it was, you could buy music in Canada and re-import it to the US. (Actually if IP was part of NAFTA, Apple CANADA could sue the RIAA to force lower prices as the present situation is anti-competitive) {interesting asside, Apple CANADA would have to do it, Apple USA would have no standing, goofy NAFTA dispute resolution}.
INSTEAD, what I think will happen is that the US will force Canada to sign the WIPO and the world gets DMCA like treatment, as opposed to making the US laws more sane.
So, for all those who asked, no you will not be able to re-import the music back into the US... even if you could get Apple to sell it to you at the lower price you would have to declare the purchase and remit duty on the purchase. Ever buy one of the "imported' CDs from the record store... part of the reason they cost more is excise duty.
Bah, somewhat useless however, with the USD sucking lately, we could be back to 1.05Canadian soon, and we would want to buy your cheap music.... better get that trade deficit fixed soon!
Bad spellers of the world untie!
In other country Apple had problem getting indies onboard, one would have thought they would be prepared this time. This ain't gonna work if they have no music from here to sell us, The rest of Canada might appreciate but the national fiber is too strong here for a majority of people to adhere to a service that doesn't sell them their own music...
Because partitioning the market makes the market less efficient. The less efficient a market is, the more it can be exploited for profit. And they can do this because the music copyright holders don't compete based on price. They can maximize profits by charging Canadians one price and Americans a higher price, but only if Americans are barred from shopping in the same store as Canadians.
A bit of a side rant: Is anyone else out there really annoyed that corporations militantly defend their right to source work and materials from wherever's cheapest, but fight tooth and nail to prevent consumers from buying goods from wherever's cheapest? When I try to sell my labor, I have to compete in a global market, but they get to price their music on a country by country basis.
It's actually called "TunesA".
Sweet, what a deal for Americans! Only $0.83 a download, no wait, $0.85, oop, make that $0.92, don't worry guys it'll stop any day now, shit! $1.05 ...
Ooh... I bet you're really Canadian, eh. All the Canadians I know put an "eh" at the end of everything they say, eh. Even when they're writing, eh. That's the truth, eh. I know it, eh. I've been there, eh. They do it all the time, eh. See ya later, eh.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
as an indie musician with stuff on iTunes, they don't have it together internally. I've had sales from 6 months ago that I haven't been paid for yet.
it's great that they're opening these new outlets and all but they're lacking in some basics.
Can you spot the subtle differences?
~jeff
There are many, many differences between Canada and the United States -- including, in this specific case, entirely different organizations for Apple to negotiate with.
And just like the US store, I'm sure it'll feature:
A lot of pop artists;
A good selection of works by earlier groups in various genres;
Not a whole lot of imports; and
A lot of partial albums for major singers, because some corporate asshat out there thinks that's good marketing.
I used to download lots of music from Napster in college. Burned it CD, played the hell out of it. But I didn't keep most of those mp3s, and today with a steady job and a little different viewpoint, I'm willing to pay money for good copies and to support artists I like. So I checked out iTunes and loved it. I've spent about $80 there in the first month.
But when I run across artists like Enigma (whose albums have been chopped to hell) and Genesis (none of the most notable songs from the Peter Gabriel era are available), what do I do? I load up my p2p and start searching.
I don't blame iTunes. I commend them for doing the best they can to bring fire to the music industry cavemen. I admire what they're doing, but if the music makers want me as a consumer, they're going to have to deal with me on my level.
...with step one? Just get a PO Box from Canada Post. You don't need your own plot of land, a little box in Macs next to the frosty machine will do just fine.
Besides, you couldn't by $10 of land anywhere in Canada (even in Winnipeg). Even $10 US--especially since at the rate the US dollar is tanking it'll be at par with the Canadian dollar in a year and with the peso by the end of the decade if the trend were to continue that long.
BTW...this is how Canadians get HBO--they get a PO box in Montana and order DirecTV. Can't see why the same strategy in reverse wouldn't work for USians lookin' for cheap iTunes.
Partitioned markets are never more efficient than an equivalent free market, in the macroeconomic sense. Your argument is not from the perspective of efficiency -- it's an argument from the perspective of profit maximization by producers.
Your efficiency argument is circular because it's only valid in an inefficient market, where producers enjoy non-market controls. In a free market, purchasers can arbitrage away artificial pricing distinctions. This leads to greater market efficiency. Canadians who purchase music at lower prices would resell them to Americans, rebalancing the artificial pricing distinction imposed by the producers. While this could happen today, there are enough frictional market restrictions due to the credit card requirements and DRM transfer requirements to prevent it happening on a meaningful economic scale.
Don't confuse market efficiency with producer price maximization.
We may let Americans browse the Canadian store, but when Canadians log in, here's what *we* actually see...