Blank Media Levy To Stick Around In Europe
from the for-legal-copying? dept
Plenty of countries have blank media levies, that are basically a tax on blank media in case people use that media to copy music or movies. The fees go back to an organization that's in charge of handing it out to the artists -- though, there are questions about how well they actually pay the artists. Over in Europe, apparently they've been considering a change to copyright laws in the EU that would remove copyright levies -- but the plan has been withdrawn from the European Commission, probably due to some pressure from those who don't want to see the levy go away. That's not too surprising. What's more interesting is the description of the levies -- which the story notes are only supposed to cover "legal copying" of content. It later notes that "illegal copying" is not covered by these levies. If that's the case, then what is actually the purpose of the levies? If it's legal to copy the content (for personal or backup reasons, for example) then why should there be compensation involved? The whole point of "legal copying" is that you've already paid what you need to pay and therefore it's perfectly fine to make the copy. Adding in the levy, then, is simply double paying for those who have actually paid for the content -- or forcing people who don't make copies to pay for content they don't own. No wonder some concerned industries are so against having it taken away...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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How did levies ever seem like a good idea?
I've personally never understood how the levy here in Canada seemed like a good idea to anyone. It doesn't stop anyone from copying anything, it just makes people pay for potentially infringing copyright. How can you punish people before they actually do something illegal?
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Well if...
It later notes that "illegal copying" is not covered by these levies.
illegal copying isnt covered but legal copying is, then how can you just tax all blank media? How do you distinguish illegal copying from legal? Doesn't that mean that those who use the blank medai for illegal copying are being unfairly forced to pay this levy?
And what about those thay buy blank media for their own original content like photos and music (yeah there are some music creators that aren't owned by some big corporation)
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i'm sure here in the good ol' usofa we'd find a lawyer right quick that would do the work "pro-bono"
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Don't support the cocks, even if they tax you.
I am paying money to crooks like Sony and the RIAA for activities completely unrelated to their failing businesses.
I therefore take this levy as a green light to make copies of commercial music to give away or even sell to others.
And, if I really thought it would harm their businesses I would do it
on a massive scale out of nothing more than spite towards these theives.
However, to answer AC#3, the music coming from them is so devoid of any artistic merit that I wouldn't want to inflict it on anybody or do anything to promote its propagation. The music industry spouts such feculant toss these days it relies entirely on downloaders to distribute and advertise it's rubbish.
The way to really hurt them is to ignore them. Encourage your friends to seek out some of the brilliant free music available on the internet available under Creative Commons license. Stuff that real musicians actually *want* you to download and share.
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a Levy?
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LOL
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I love it...
They make money off the blank media that is sold.
So what's next, trying to force hard drive manufactures to give them a cut?
If they didn't treat customers like crooks then maybe some (but not all) would dowload.
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Re: I love it...
Yes. And MP3 players. And cell phones. And memory cards. And anything that can be used to store music digitally.
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Re: Well if...
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Re: How did levies ever seem like a good idea?
To the far left, there is no problem that can't be solved through a socialist welfare state, typically by taxes or handouts. :) In this case, therefore, they could either tax media and give nothing to industry, give to the industry and not raise any new taxes, or tax AND give handouts. Lefties love to tax, and people love unearned handouts, so, there you go! Thats how it seemed like a good idea. There was a problem, and the far left threw the only tools they know at it to fix it.
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Re: Re: I love it...
After that, brain implants to charge me 10 cents every time I hum the opening theme to the original Battlestar Galactica.
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Re: How did levies ever seem like a good idea?
Knowing that CDs are destructible, music companies now license the music on the CD to you, with limitations of course. If the CD becomes unplayable, tough shit, the licence only covers the content. Go buy a new CD. Some motor vehicles come with 5 year or 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranties. Yet, if a single scratch renders your CD useless, you out of luck.
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phew. that was fun.
but it is funny that you pay a tax to cover legal copies, which you are allowed to have and don't harm the industry. however the tax doesn't cover the illegal copying, which DOES hurt the company. wow. just wow.
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