Canadian Labels Oppose Charge on Digital Media Players

International Musician, Dec 2007

In July, the Copyright Board of Canada (CBC) approved a levy extension on digital audio recorders such as MP3 players, allowing an additional retail charge of up to $75, depending on the memory capacity of the player. It's an extension of a levy established in 1997 on blank media including tapes and recordable CDs, which was designed to compensate publishers and labels for revenue lost due to private copying of music from one medium to another. After administration costs, music publishers receive about two-thirds of the levy.

Canadian record labels are largely opposed to the idea, and the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has joined forces with the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) to challenge it by filing an appeal with the Federal Court. CRIA fears that the public will see the levy extension as a green light to downloading illegally-if labels are being compensated for the money they're losing, then illegal downloading must be the ultimate "victimless crime." The original levy was intended to protect publishers from private copying; that is, individuals who legally purchased music in one medium, and transferred it to another for the sake of convenience. It was never intended to make up for profits lost to illegal downloading, where the individual who acquires the music never pays for it at all.

The new levy extension was scheduled to go into effect in January 2008, but with the filing of the appeal it could be delayed considerably.