Canadian Recording Industry Suddenly Against Private Copying Levy It Fought So Hard For
from the suing-is-more-lucrative dept
For many years, the recording industry has been able to convince the Canadian government that it needs to add a "private copying levy" to various forms of blank media, to reimburse the industry for any "private copying" that happens on that media. This is pretty questionable for a number of reasons -- basically amounting to a government tax to support a private industry and its inability to adapt its business model to the market. At times, this private copying levy can be an astounding 70% of the cost of blank CDs. Once mp3 players (specifically the iPod) started to become popular, the recording industry fought to have the private levy attached to those players as well. In late 2003, the industry got its wish -- but with a catch. A ruling found that the devices could be taxed, but if they were, then downloading unauthorized content would be seen as legal (uploading unauthorized content would still be illegal). A judge later overturned the iPod levy, but some in the industry have kept fighting for it, and the Copyright Board of Canada supports extending the levy to iPods.However, in a surprise move, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (basically, Canada's version of the RIAA -- controlled by American record labels, of course) has come out against extending the private copying levy to mp3 players, admitting that if the levy is extended (even though it will send millions of dollars directly into recording industry bank accounts), Canadians may (incorrectly, in the view of the CRIA) start to believe that downloading is legal. Of course, some people pointed out this loophole in the recording industry's efforts to extend the private copying levy years ago -- but it seems that it just occurred to the powers that be. Once again, it's a case for the industry to be careful what it wishes for. The private copying levy makes the industry a ton of money, but does so at the expense of anger from purchasers of any blank media. Still, that anger is probably better than the anger generated by thousands of lawsuits against file sharers based on flimsy evidence.
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Filed Under: copyright, downloading, ipods, levy, private copying
Companies: cria, riaa
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Money, Money, Money
In this case, I would rather see DRM installed on the devices, because at least it bothers only the one who wishes to copy the content..and not everybody!
Talking about DRM, I heard about Entriq that works on the 9thExchange platform, could anybody tell me more about how it works??
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Mike, you US-is-the-Center-of-the-world American..
Since when are record labels American ?
Only ONE(out of four) big record label is from the United States of America , the rest are from :
UK, France , and Germany+Japan. (BMGSony, Universal, EMI).
Record labels just have more affect is the US because the people are dumber, but the labels are not American in any way...
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Re: Mike, you US-is-the-Center-of-the-world Americ
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Re: Mike, you US-is-the-Center-of-the-world Americ
Only ONE(out of four) big record label is from the United States of America , the rest are from :
UK, France , and Germany+Japan. (BMGSony, Universal, EMI).
EMI is headquartered in London, but the other 3 are headquartered in the US and run by US staff and have almost nothing to do with their parent companies.
http://www.hoovers.com/Sony-BMG/--ID__135429,target__business_directory--/free-co-samp les-index.xhtml?cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=GGL&cm_pla=CHQ&cm_ite=sony_bmg_address
http://www.ho overs.com/universal-music-group/--ID__100557,target__business_directory--/free-co-samples-index.xhtm l
http://www.hoovers.com/Warner-Music/--ID__103153,target__business_directory--/free-co-samples-ind ex.xhtml?cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=GGL&cm_pla=CHQ&cm_ite=warner_music_headquarters
Yes, they may be owned by foreign firms, but to think they're not US companies is wrong.
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Re: Mike, you US-is-the-Center-of-the-world Americ
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Hey, stop blaming us Americans for the RIAA then.
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Re:
RIAA is doing what it should be doing, and effectively uses democratic methods to push for legislation and pressure companies and organizations that might endanger the business model and revenues of the record labels.
This is what it is created for. Every industry has such a body (RIAA represent the very small industry of music, but there are real, big industries such as steel, electronics, oil, which have unions and organizations fighting for their interests also), and RIAA is doing the right thing by fighting for theirs.
Americans are to blame for electing people that are weak and stupid enough to end up being lobbied into pressuring other countries to listen to RIAA, via abused international agreements.
RIAA is doing what they should be doing, the way they should be doing it. The fact that it enjoys the full support of the American people (democratically elected politicians), is annoying.
But the labels are not american.
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Re: Re:
You say that the RIAA is doing the right thing the way it should be done?
That's got to be the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. Music does not make the same impact on your life as steel or oil, and going around suing IP addresses for money is NOT the way to protect one's assets.
It IS a shame that politicians feel the need to go to bed with this scum to line their own pockets, but "What is your position on the RIAA" is not a high priority question for the debates.
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Not so bad...
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Essentially, the CRIA has never supported the levy on CDs. And they made their opposition to the expansion of this levy a year ago or more. The levy is administered by the CPCC.
http://neil.eton.ca/cpcc_rel1.shtml
The CPCC is the organization which wants to expand the levy they administer and the CRIA is making their opposition to this expansion public.
I am certainly not a fan of organizations which appear to be using the courts to prop up failing business models.
That said, the misinformation currently spreading around the web like wildfire is painting an inaccurate picture of the situation with regard to the Canadian CD levy. The CRIA was not a member of the CPCC only apparently saw the levy as an interim measure.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/35/Archives/committees352/heri/evidence/26_96-10-22/heri26_blk101.html#0.1 .HERI26.000001.AA1300.A
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Waikato Linux Users Group
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question
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