Yes, the Canadian music industry wants a fee on every smartphone sold in this country
The iPod Tax is back, except that the Canadian music industry wants a fee slapped on all smartphones because we all copy our music to them. (Here’s my backgrounder on the situation.)
Copyright expert Michael Geist has more to say on the subject.
Last fall, months before the start of the Canadian copyright review, the Canadian Private Copying Collective, the collective that administers the tax on blank CDs that has long advocated for extending the payments to iPods and other electronic devices, met with senior officials at Canadian Heritage including Deputy Minister Graham Flackand Melanie Joly’s chief of staff Leslie Church (over two days the collective also met with politicians such as Dan Ruimy, Peter Van Loan, and Pierre Nantel). According to documents released under the Access to Information Act, the collective arrived with a startling demand, asking the federal government to pay $160 million over the next four years to compensate for music copying.
The demand, which now forms part of the platform of demands from the Canadian music industry, is based on a $40 million annual handout. While the industry has not provided details on how it arrived at its figure, notes (likely from Graham Flack) reveal the basis of the demand.
Keep reading. (Via Andrew)
