Japanese Gov't Says No (Again) To An iPod Tax

from the how-many-times? dept

Thu, Jul 10th 2008 11:49am — Mike Masnick

Back in 2005, the recording industry in Japan urged the government to create an iPod tax, adding a tax to every iPod (or other digital music player) sold. The idea was that the recording industry wanted to assume that every iPod owner was obviously "stealing" music, and this tax would help pay for the supposedly "lost" revenue. Of course, as we all know, that's a very questionable assumption. An iPod can often make people buy more music, but the recording industry has never been willing to even consider that idea. Luckily, a few months later, the Japanese government rejected the idea.

However, with the recording industry, these things always seem to have a way of popping back up again. And, indeed, there's been another big push this year for Japan to add an iPod tax. Luckily, however, the consumer electronics lobby in Japan is a lot more powerful than the recording industry lobby, and it appears that the iPod tax proposal is dead once again. Of course, it will likely be suggested again next year, but as we start to see more and more business models built on a base of free music, perhaps more people will recognize how unfair (and damaging to the market) an iPod tax would be. It would lower the incentives for people to buy these devices, decrease music consumption habits, and hurt all these other business models.

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Filed Under: ipod tax, japan, levy

16 Comments

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dkp, 10 Jul 2008 @ 12:27pm

us
unfortunatly the US has one
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- Ima Fish, 10 Jul 2008 @ 12:31pm
  
  Re: us
  "unfortunatly the US has one"
  
  The US has a tax/fee for specific blank media such as cassettes (do they still sell those?) and some (but not all) blank CD-Rs and CD-RWs. As far as I know there is no similar tax on MP3 players.
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  - eleete, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:05pm
    
    Re: Re: us
    I've heard this was only on Audio CDs so if you are buying CDs don't buy them Specifically for their audio capabilities, they are the same as Data CDs on the spindle. My $0.02
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- pferland, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:50pm
  
  Re: us
  not just on iPods and other MP3 players but blank DVD's, CD's and Tapes
  its maddness
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Ima Fish, 10 Jul 2008 @ 12:29pm

I can't help but wonder whether the music industry would double dip if this tax was enacted.

The music industry claims the tax is necessary to compensate for the music being illegally downloaded. So, it would follow, that if you pay the tax, the music industry is being compensated, so you should be free to download as much music as you'd like.

However, if the music industry claims it needs the tax and still requires additional payment for music, then the tax is nothing more than a greedy money grab. The music industry should never be allowed to have it both ways.
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- eleete, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:06pm
  
  Re:
  Love to see a breakdown of those payouts, bet most goes to RIAA
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- JS Beckerist, 10 Jul 2008 @ 2:53pm
  
  Re:
  Plus, a ton of market research is done to find the ideal cost of trivial (see: non-essential) items such as this. Much like Starbucks coffee at $4 a pop, if an iPod were inflated artificially then I wouldn't be surprised to see a considerable (noticeable?) dip in sales, ultimately hurting them in the long run.
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GeneralEmergency (profile), 10 Jul 2008 @ 12:59pm

Stop the Whack-A-Mole insanity.
End copyright.

Enough is enough.
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- eleete, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:07pm
  
  Re: Stop the Whack-A-Mole insanity.
  Agreed, It's just a club to beat a potential competitor with anyways.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:03pm

Canada
Canada also has a blank media levy. They assume we are pirates and are collecting money. In my opinion, that is a green light for everyone who buys blank media to download whatever they want without paying -- because we have already paid via the tax.
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eleete, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:09pm

the best legal advice on the Download all you want defense I've heard is
"Govern yourself accordingly". Illegal is still illegal, but there is no one stopping us from making it legal, Just.... Ourselves ?
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- JS Beckerist, 10 Jul 2008 @ 2:56pm
  
  Re:
  Lobbyists lining politicians wallets have a bit more say (unfortunately) than you or I, so long as the politicians can let it fly low enough under the radar to get reelected.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:10pm

Who cares
I DL what I want, whenever I want, and give away whatever I want. "Hooray Internet"
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- eleete, 10 Jul 2008 @ 1:20pm
  
  Re: Who cares
  NIZE !!
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Eric, 11 Jul 2008 @ 8:28am

you are rigth - ipod = more purchases
Before I had an ipod i probably purchased 3-4 cds a year, mostly because i feel $14-18 dollars is an absolute rip off since there is a good chance i won't enjoy half the songs. Normally if you don't like a product you can return it, sadly with music/movies you don't have this option...well, now i'm spending close to $250/year at itunes, much more than the 3-4 CDs i use to purchase! If a tax were added - just means i'll definitely feel justified to download as much music as possible and not pay dime for it!
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Real Estate, 18 Feb 2009 @ 5:06am

Very nice.
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