| ISP Music Tax “Debate” in the Toronto Star | |
Could $5 a month save the music industry? was posted on the Star’s site Feb 20, 2008 at 4:30 AM.
The issue:
The Songwriters Association of Canada proposes a $5 monthly fee on subscribers’ Internet bills that would make it legal to download music and hopefully save the failing music industry.
We’ll focus on the negatives, the issues they would need to overcome to make it happen.
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES?
Internet Service Providers may resist adding $5 to customers’ monthly bills.
The four major record labels, which have traditionally dominated music distribution, oppose all attempts to establish alternatives or competitors.
The federal government, which will have to be convinced of the merit of the changes in the Copyright Act, is reluctant to intervene in the marketplace unless in the public interest.
Songwriters and authors will have to give up their long-established right to approve or disapprove of the use and means of dissemination of their work. The only right they will have is the right to be paid for peer-to-peer downloads.
Internet users who do not download music – paid or otherwise – will balk at paying an extra $5 a month.
Source: David Fewer, staff counsel with the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
Not even 12 hours later, Feb 20, 2008 at 11:47 AM, the Star posted a series of responses to the above article. Here are the first 11 - all against it - as are almost all the rest [there has to be an easy 100 posted]:
If every Internet subscriber pays $5 monthly; then all music downloads should be free and legal. The Music Association of Canada cannot suck and blow at the same time.
David Boyle, TorontoAlready they over charge huge amount to buy their CDs, if only they could be practical in pricing their product, they would not be in this situation.
Steve Moore, TorontoIf that comes to pass, how and what would corporate and business subscribers pay ? Now I wonder if Toronto Star would also ask for a $5 fee since I came across this on the online edition ?
Mukesh Vashi, BramptonRidiculous. I have never downloaded music, never will, I’m lucky to have finally accomplished a level of computer savy to do basic tasks. I still have a collection of tapes for heaven’s sake…I don’t want to be bothered replacing them all with CD,s. So why should people like me, and there are plenty of us, pay for a service we will never use?
Jan Pinney, EloraI object to paying for a service I would never use. If I want music I use a CD or listen to the radio. Why should I pay for some strangers’ habit of pirating music from the internet
Aileen Carter, TorontoSince we already pay a levy on blank media such as CDs and DVDs, and there is also a proposal to add a similar levy to hard drives and MP3 players, I don’t see why we should have to pay yet another fee to supposedly compensate for downloaded music. Downloading music is already legal in Canada because of these levies, so why should we be slapped with another fee for doing something that is actually legal?
Iris Gray, VictoriaThe idea is ridiculous. Should all mortgage payers be surcharged to help those who live beyond their means and default on their payments? Should all credit card users have to pay extra to bail out those who abuse credit? Should all car drivers have to pay an extra tax to subsidise those who evade payment? The truth of the matter is that the music business has brought its ills upon itself by its head-in-the-sand attitude.
Clive Warner, Monterrey, MexicoWhat happens to this money that is collected? How can the possibly know how much a musician or song writer should receive?
Randy Drefs, Medicine HatNothing wrong with paying $5 a month provided you WANT it. But I just dont get the thought process behind this ludicrous proposition of making everyone pay even if you never download music. Are we heading towards a communist/socialist internet usage, having to pay up for someone elses losses. I, for one, will not fork it.
Vikas Thusoo, Richmond Hill$5 a month for music is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of, even if you are a music downloader. The only music I’ve actually ever downloaded was Radiohead’s newest album, In Rainbows. Radiohead chose to release the music independently and actaully let you set your own price for the online download - a truly novel idea that the music industry should take note of. I have no doubts they’ve still made plenty of money.
Shawn Vickar, CalgaryHow arrogant can these people be? First there was a tax on blank CDs, with the working assumption that anyone who burns a CD is ripping off an artist. How do these funds get disubursed? Why should Anne Murray get paid everytime I back up a database on a CD?
Dave Kingston, Toronto
Word is Songwriters Association of Canada has all but accepted the proposal is dead in the water.
And thanks to Coolfer otherwise, I might have missed the responses from readers on that piece
And in the initial article Trent Reznor is noted as a supporter for the ISP music tax when he is on record stating that quote was incorrect.
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