$5/Unlimited Music — An Unfair Tax or a Good Deal?

The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), the representative voice of Canadian songwriters, has proposed an amendment to the Copyright Act for the establishment of a new right – the "Right to Equitable Remuneration for Music File Sharing". If adopted, downloading and sharing music would be legalized in exchange for a $5 monthly fee applied to all internet and wireless accounts in Canada. The fee, expected to raise between $500 to $900 million annually, would be distributed to the artists whose works are shared. Artists would not, however, receive compensation for works already licensed through iTunes or similar services. In applying the fee to all wireless and internet subscribers, the SAC proposal assumes all users participate in illegal downloading. Opponents to the plan note that Internet users who buy music through pay sites such as iTunes or do not download music at all would be unfairly penalized by the plan. So far there are a number of songwriters who have come out publicly in favour of the SAC proposal including Randy Bachman and the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, a group of 187 acts, including the Barenaked Ladies and Avril Lavigne. The major record labels have not been as quick to warm to the proposal. Graham Henderson, President of the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA), has called the proposal a "pipe dream" and noted that CRIA is reluctant to get involved. The SAC proposal is still in its infancy and has not yet been presented to the Copyright Board for consideration. It will be interesting to see if additional rights holders, such a movie studios, will take similar actions or stay with the current online licensing models and DRM. For more information and a copy of the SAC proposal, visit: http://www.songwriters.ca/studio/proposal.php For more background on the opposition to the proposal, visit: http://tinyurl.com/32j3w8 Summary by: Sue Diaz