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MP3 Player Tax Proposed In Canada

Posted by samzenpus on from the squeezing-out-every-last-dime dept.

Interoperable writes "The status of sharing music in Canada is, to some extent, ambiguous. This is partly due to a levy imposed on blank media, CD-Rs and cassette tapes, that compensates artists and the recording studios for a loss of revenue due to copying. Legislation proposed by the NDP and supported by the Bloc Quebecois would extend that levy to cover MP3 players with the intent of decriminalizing audio file sharing for Canadian citizens. The proposed legislation, however, faces opposition from the governing Conservative party; the Liberal party has agreed to discuss the proposed bill."

9 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Useful by mr_da3m0n · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Lets just hope the money gets to the struggling artists!

    I envy your optimism. It will most likely go the recording industry -- the ones who have to be appeased over the digital equivalent of mixtapes.

  2. Common Sense by Akido37 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They pay a copying tax every time they buy media. It seems to me this implies copying is then legal.

    However, with common sense and government, only occasionally do the two meet.

    1. Re:Common Sense by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. They've had this CD tax for years that legalized music copyright infringement.

      Now that they're doing this for mp3 players (and I'm sure, PMPs in general), this would also imply that movie and portable game copyright infringement is legal too, eh?

      --
      All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
  3. They finally realize they can't stop us by voodoo+cheesecake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wish they would do this with my rolling papers and decriminalize non-medicinal marijuana!

  4. Private members' bill is going nowhere by fishwallop · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This proposed legislation is going nowhere in this form.

    The bill being put forward by a member of parliament from the NDP, who are at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the governing Conservative parties. It will not get enought support to make it past first reading - it would need the support of the largest opposition party, the Liberals, and they're likely to just ignore it, because politically, it looks like a tax. Also, because there's finances involved, passing the legislation might be considered a confidence vote which would bring down the government and trigger an election, and this just isn't an issue the Liberals want us going to the polls over. Canada once did have an "ipod tax" of the sort proposed. The "private copying" regime in Canada makes it legal (i.e. not a violation of copyright) to copy music (but not movies, or non-musical audio recordings) for private use onto an "audio recording media". The flip side of the legislation is that a levy (tax) is imposed on "audio recording media" to compensate recording artists for the copies of their music that are copied in this way. For example, there's a levy of about 30 cents per blank CD. However, because the law doesn't model technology very well, there is no levy on blank DVDs, and when they tried to impose a levy on MP3 players several years ago, the Court struck it down, concluding that an MP3 player is not "audio recording media". Hard drives, similarly, are not "audio recording media" because they can hold anything, not just audio. Like I said, the law doesn't model technology very well.

  5. Fuck Off, Eh by whisper_jeff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, it boggles the mind that the media corporations have managed to brainwash people sufficiently that they have politicians proposing a tax that enables them to be paid _FOR DOING NOTHING!_ Just because they exist, they expect to be paid. It's a degree of entitlement that my brain has troubles comprehending. I want to rant more but I'm just too flabbergasted to be able to put together a coherent sentence... I clearly went into the wrong industry - I actually have to work for my pay check. I should have gone into music distribution where I can get paid just for being there.

    Seriously, the media companies (music, first and foremost among them since the RIAA and CRIA are the most antagonistic of them) need to fuck off. Eh.

  6. Re:Useful by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yvan already debunked this. The recording companies aren't paying artists properly already. This tax will be another form of corporate welfare, pouring money into the pockets of the real music pirates ... Sony, BMG, etc.

    --
    I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
  7. Re:The levy only compensates Major Label artists by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >>>People who are both stupid... to add a line to their user CSS

    The what? I had no idea such a thing existed in my web browser (IE, FF, or Opera). And I don't consider myself "stupid"..... maybe "ignorant" but not stupid.
    .

    >>>adds a small, superscript, [PDF] after each link to a PDF

    Or just look at the status bar before clicking a link, and it will tell you what you're opening.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  8. Non-Canadians; UPC by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So long as you are a member of SOCAN and have music tracked by SoundScan, you're eligible for the levies

    So if you happen not to be Canadian yet are the author of music that has been copied in Canada, how do you get into SOCAN? And it appears you need a UPC to get into SoundScan, and to get a UPC, you need at least some sort of label (even if not major). Besides, I didn't see anything on your flowchart about download sales (e.g. iTunes Store).