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

from the how-many-times? dept

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.

Filed Under: ipod tax, japan, levy

RIAA Now Open To 'You Must Be A Criminal' Tax On ISP Fees

from the not-the-answer dept

This certainly isn't the first time it's been proposed, but it appears that the RIAA is potentially warming up to the idea of a "music surcharge" that would have ISPs pay $5/month in order to allow anyone to share music online. Just a month ago, we were discussing why this is a bad idea. First, it's effectively treating everyone as a criminal, and forcing those who don't download or share music to subsidize everyone who does. Second, and much more importantly, it's not necessary. If there's anything that the past five years (and the past year especially) has taught us, it's that there are many different ways for musicians to make money without requiring the government to step in and set up a business model for them. In other words, there's no compelling need for such a mandated system. Third, once you do this, it opens up additional questions from other industries. Will the government need to set up laws that prop up their business models as well?

Some people are comparing this new RIAA proposal to the one that the EFF proposed four years ago. However, that one was quite different, in that it was a voluntary licensing system, rather than a mandatory one. In that system, anyone who wanted to could voluntarily pay $5/month to have free reign to share and download music. This new proposal would mandate that ISPs pay the fee (meaning that ISPs would quickly pass the costs on to everyone). That's quite different. It also might be a different story if ISPs voluntarily offered this as a feature for customers -- where they would license the music so anyone could freely share it. That's a case where the ISP would effectively be paying for the creation of music and using its free nature as a promotional good for its service. However, that rationale goes away if it's mandatory. So, while it's nice that the RIAA has woken up (about a decade too late) to the idea that new business models are needed, this proposal isn't a very good idea.

Filed Under: copyright, isps, levy, mandatory, music, riaa
Companies: riaa

Canadian Courts Strike Down 'You Must Be A Criminal' iPod Tax Again

from the haven't-we-been-through-this-before? dept

A few years back, we noted that a Canadian court had ruled that the "private copying levy" (better known as "you must be a criminal tax") for blank media such as CDs and DVDs could not be extended to iPods. However, the Canadian Copyright Board seemed to think that such a decision didn't preclude it from going back and adding the levy to iPods at a later date -- and this year it tried to do so, sending the whole issue back to court again. Once again, the courts have said that the Copyright Board is wrong and it cannot put the levy on iPods. Apparently, it took all of about 24 hours to make this decision, pointing out that much of this stuff was covered in the earlier decision a few years back. It's worth noting, by the way, that the recording industry probably wasn't on the side you'd expect in this case. It was so afraid that a private copying levy would "legalize" file sharing, that it came out against the proposal as well. Now it can keep on suing people. Of course, it makes you wonder how it feels about the private copying levy that is still used on blank CDs and DVDs, which seem even less likely to be used for private copying purposes than an iPod.

Filed Under: canada, copyright, ipods, levy

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.

Filed Under: copyright, downloading, ipods, levy, private copying
Companies: cria, riaa