Canadian Record Industry's Secret Lobby Campaign

CRIAWatch writes "Michael Geist has an editorial published in the Hill Times, a Canadian political newsweekly, about a secret lobbying campaign by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The report details how days after the last Canadian election CRIA lobbyists worked with officials to plan an event featuring speakers on the CRIA payroll who are promoting a DMCA for Canada, dozens of government officials from seven departments, an expensive lunch with senior government executives paid for by taxpayers, as well as a private meeting with the Canadian Heritage Minister who is responsible for copyright law."

Comments

Plutocracy

[Umbral Blot]

I for one welcome our wealthy overlords. In all seriousness many democratic countries are effectively ruled by the rich already. (For example consider the amount of money needed to win an election, ensuring all candidates are either independently wealthy or in the pockets of their campaign contributors) Why should it surprise anyone that the people in power are making laws that benefit themselves? See Plutocracy and tell me with a straight face that isn't almost every modern "democratic" government.

What's the difference

[Anonymous Coward]

between "secret lobbying" and "bribery"

In my country bribery used to be a scandalous form of fraud.

Lobbying == Bribery

[Anonymous Coward]

call a spade a spade, you hand money/favors to politician in the expectation he gives you something worthwhile for your money
you really think [COMPANYNAME] would spend millions in "contributions" if it made no difference ? do you think these companies treat it as a charity donation or as a strategic investment ?

lobbying is just another word for legalised bribery
democracy has nothing to do with it

money and material desire is the problem

Watch Out Canda!

[Nom du Keyboard]

Watch out Canada! We'll make you into the United States yet!

Not quite the "Canadian Record Industry"

[turg]

The only members of the CRIA are the American record labels. The Canadian labels have all pulled out.

Re:Not quite the "Canadian Record Industry"

[demachina]

"The only members of the CRIA are the American record labels."

Uh ... the big four recording companies which control more than two thirds of the recording business, which are probably the ones that count here, aren't really "American". Some 2004 market share I could find:

"Universal maintains its position as the world's biggest recording company, with a 25.5% share of the world market. Sony BMG is next with a 21.5% share followed by EMI at 13.4% and Warner at 11.3%. The independent sector holds steady with a 28.4% global share."

Universal Music Group, while American in origin, is owned by Vivendi, which is a French company.
Sony BMG is owned by ... uh ... Sony which is a Japanese company and BMG is Bertelsmann a German company.
EMI is a British company based in London.
Last I remember Time Warner sold Warner Music Group to Edgar Bronfman, principal in Seagrams. Seagrams is based in Montreal, though I think Bronfman lives in New York, and a lot of Warner Music is in the U.S. so its kind of a Canadian-American company.

So nice try, trying to ascribe RIAA/CRIA insanity solely to America isn't really accurate. You should probably just refer to them as multinationals, the root of most evil in the world. Greed is pretty much an international disease, the U.S. just has a particularly virulent dose.

Canadian Heritage

[kevin_conaway]

I had no idea what the Canadian Heritage was, so I looked it up. Apparenty, its an official goverment branch that is responsible for national policies and programs that promote Canadian content, foster cultural participation, active citizenship and participation in Canada's civic life, and strengthen connections among Canadians.

Telling Statistics of their Piracy reports

[failedlogic]

Something seems a bit fishy about the motives of CRIA and its not just this Canadia-taxpayer funded meal.
Not only have most of the Canadian labels pulled out, but they don't seem to easily identify which labels they represent.

More telling though is this site http://www.cria.ca/stats.php which has their industry statistics on CD and DVD sales. I'm not an accountant or trained in business, but doesn't it feel funny to read this sentence? "Sales information is supplied by members of CRIA and tabulated by Grant Thornton without audit." I take their said statistics with a grain of salt.

Politician: So are you saying movies and music are being pirated? Do you have less sales records as proof?
CRIA: Yes.
Critic: So who tabulates the records? Is there an audit trail?
CRIA: One person. Sorry no audits available.
Politician: Enough! The proof is in the records!
Critic: But they're not even responsibily tallied! We need more information.
Politician: We're passing the law.

Ah, Democracy!! (sigh)