‘Rare’ music industry consensus on key issues at Copyright Act review

The House industry committee heard some familiar suggestions from a number of music industry groups Thursday, as they asked the MPs to take action on a radio royalty exemption, the private copying levy and rules for royalties on soundtracks. Many of those issues were brought up Thursday at various times by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), Re:Sound Music Licensing Co., the Canadian Private Copying Collective, and the Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ). They appeared as part of the committee’s Copyright Act review. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and Music Canada previously asked for the repeal of a rule that says radio stations don’t have to pay royalties on their first $1.25 million in advertising revenue, and for performers and record labels to be able to receive royalties when their work is used in TV and film soundtracks. The groups also asked to extend the private copying levy, which is applied to media like blank tapes and CDs, to electronic devices like smartphones. Re:Sound president Ian MacKay said that “it’s rare to get this type of consensus from such disparate groups representing very different parts of the music ecosystem,” specifically bringing up the radio exemption and the soundtrack royalties. “The profound impact of these two unfair and outdated exemptions cannot be overstated. The Copyright Act should be modernized to remove these subsidies and ensure creators are paid whenever businesses commercially use their work. Doing this would have an immediate effect on the livelihood of artists.” Re:Sound also brought up the need to reform the Copyright Board, while ADISQ asked for an extension of copyright terms from 50 to 70 years. Innovation parliamentary secretary David Lametti asked the groups about the proposal to apply the private copying levy to mobile phones. “What do you say to the argument that by buying or any other device it’s not necessarily the case that someone will not use it to record music?” he asked in French, according to simultaneous translation. Lyette Bouchard, chairwoman of the private copying collective, responded that while some devices will never be used for that purpose, that’s also the case for other smartphone features. She compared the levy to smartphone makers paying a licence fee to include bluetooth connectivity even if the customer never uses it. “When the amount of the levy is calculated, the authorities take into account the fact that so many devices are sold and that so many copies are made, so an assessment is made of the value of that private copying,” said Bouchard. “The amount will take into account the fact that perhaps you don’t use one of your tablets to copy music and never will.” ADISQ executive director Solange Drouin added that “many things in life are like that. I don’t have children but I still pay school taxes.”

‘Rare’ music industry consensus on key issues at Copyright Act review

Brief | June 15, 2018

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‘Rare’ music industry consensus on key issues at Copyright Act review

Brief | June 15, 2018

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