Canada's Copyright Board slaps tax on music downloads

Just a few months after it deemed it suitable to reinstate a levy on digital audio players, the Copyright Board of Canada looks set to stir things up once again, with it now ruling that music downloads should be taxed as well. That decision comes after the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (or SOCAN) had pushed for such a levy, a position the Copyright Board appears to have sided with entirely. Under the new rules, online music stores will have to pay 3.1 cents for each individual track and 1.5 cents per track for entire albums sold directly to SOCAN, which will in turn distribute the funds to the artists. Sites that offer temporary downloads or customizable radio stations will also be facing taxes, although the board hasn't yet released a decision for those that offer music on personal websites. What's more, according to CanWest News Service, the levies will be retroactive all the way back to 1996, which is when the music industry first started pushing for the tariffs.

[Jeff B @ Oct 19th 2007 12:49PM]

Oh good. Now we have DRM and even more freakin' tax in Canada.

[randy @ Oct 19th 2007 2:48PM]

Remember, Canadians LOVE taxes. That's why they're Canadians! Their ancestors are the cowards who ran into their homes and shut the blinds while colonists rioted over the King's taxes at the Boston Tea Party! The next morning they got the hell out.

[painty @ Oct 19th 2007 3:32PM]

Cowards?...I think not...remember we whipped your asses in the War of 1812 (and burnt down the White House to boot)

[Mischa @ Oct 19th 2007 5:49PM]

Actually Canada wasn't a country until 1867. Even the 1840 act of union wasn't close to 1812. Ergo, the British - the world's super power - went to Washington and burnt it down, as there were no such thing as Canadians.

And as I recall, York (now Toronto) the capitol of the British colonies, was burnt down by American troops. So it was even stephen. The war of 1812 was a continuation of the war of independence after a 15 year interregnum. You're a tool.

[Samson Hu @ Oct 19th 2007 5:02PM]

It was actually mostly the british that destroyed the americans in 1812, but still, two can play at this game. who was it that waited three years before joining in world war I? who was it that waited until 1941 to join world 2?

[Penguin Warlord @ Oct 19th 2007 6:19PM]

York wasn't anywhere close to what Toronto is now. I twas just a litttle outpost/fort and FYI we burned the main powder magazine down when we left and then the Americans accidently burned it down killing hundreds of their troops. And it was true that Canada was still part of Britain then but cause who led the American revolution? British citizens.

And it was even stevens because Canada clearly won that war. The whole war was not about taking over the states, it was about taking over Canada and the Americans failed in that.

And I would rather pay a couple extra penny's on my downloads then be sued for multi million dollar sums by the RIAA.

[Nogami @ Oct 19th 2007 7:45PM]

Wow, they REALLY want us to download music for free don't they?

Oh well, if that's what they want...

[Wwhat @ Oct 20th 2007 10:24AM]

Yeah off to demonoid.. oh wait.

[Kevin @ Oct 19th 2007 12:51PM]

LOL! Good luck with that Canada.

[paul34 @ Oct 19th 2007 12:54PM]

taxing electrons? What a wonderful world we live in today.

[Loonie @ Oct 19th 2007 12:55PM]

Hooray! More money for executives and lawyers and not the artists! Hooray!

[griffin @ Oct 19th 2007 12:57PM]

I thought Canada was the cool country...

[Jason @ Oct 19th 2007 1:00PM]

Private taxes : brought to you by Canada's new government.

[Brandon @ Oct 19th 2007 1:02PM]

I'm ok with this! They add these extra taxes, and in return we can pirate our asses off! =D

[LC @ Oct 19th 2007 3:35PM]

So that's what Ass Pirates are. 'P

[Daryl Herbert @ Oct 19th 2007 5:09PM]

Now you can pirate music with a clean conscience: because you know the people who are buying legal music are paying a fee to cover the costs of your piracy.

[Anthony @ Oct 19th 2007 1:02PM]

Retroactive?! That is taking shady practices to a whole new level.

[Jordan @ Oct 19th 2007 1:04PM]

Excellent. Now the people who actually pay for their music are being punished for it.

If that's not asking for people to pirate music I don't know what is.

[babypriest @ Oct 19th 2007 1:05PM]

Great way to fight piracy - make people pay more, giving people more incentive to download illegally.

[jroc @ Oct 19th 2007 1:09PM]

I'll be fine with this as soon as we get rid of that damn illegal income tax.

[Jamar0303 @ Oct 19th 2007 1:10PM]

Oh yes- I'm rather glad that I live in China at the moment. Get all my CD-buying out of the way now, rip, resell, and return with my music.

[WIll @ Oct 19th 2007 1:16PM]

OK.. so, at the moment, downloading songs is legal (gray, but legal). Purchasing songs MAY ultimately cost more now. A bigger piece of a smaller pie isn't going to line anyone's pockets. This is unclear, muddled thinking at its finest.

[Glenn @ Oct 19th 2007 1:19PM]

Clearly, intelligence isn't any more of a requirement for Canadian "boards" and composers than it is for their American ilk (and let us not forget those Scots).

[boatboy @ Oct 19th 2007 1:21PM]

Gotta pay for that socialized health care somehow, eh?

[robjennings @ Oct 19th 2007 1:32PM]

Ha. I might actually support the idea if the money was being used that way.

But really, I'm just confused. iTunes sells music. iTunes pays record label. Record label pays artist. In my mind, the artist has been compensated. Why the additional tax?

Now, I understand that the record labels do not likely pay substantial compensation to the artist, but that's a function of the contract negotiated by the record label and the artist.

Why should online distributors, and likely the consumer, pay for the music twice?

[cc @ Oct 19th 2007 2:01PM]

I'm confused... how would a tax paid directly to musicians contribute to socialized health care?

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Oct 19th 2007 2:41PM]

Further, do you not realize that socialized health care is working fine right now? The only problems the media can find to complain about are waiting lists for hip replacements (which is definitely a problem in need of fixing).

Any immediate emergencies are dealt with quickly and efficiently; people who are in serious need are helped, even if their treatment costs more than that scheduled hip replacement.

...Etc...

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Oct 19th 2007 2:41PM]

It won't go to the health care system, it's going directly to the SOCAN. The article says that very clearly.

It's one thing to be smartly sarcastic, and it's an entirely different thing to be a sarcastic douchebag. You, sir, are being the latter.

[randy @ Oct 19th 2007 2:43PM]

Listen Rob, if you want to help your neighbor pay for her healthcare, JUST DO IT. What makes you people think you need the freaking "Government" to FORCE you to?

YOUR WAY:

Pay $553 for you iPhone instead of $320, so $200 can go to other government pork and Government socialized-healthcare administration costs, awhile $33 ends up helping your neighbor

~ OR ~


THE AMERICAN WAY:

Walk down your damn street and hand your needy neighbor or your local church or charity the whole $233 and say, "Here, you need this more than I do, you have a friend in me. No questions asked."

[robjennings @ Oct 19th 2007 3:16PM]

Why is everyone taking this so seriously? Some guy made a joke about using this tax to subsidize universal healthcare and then I made another joke that the tax might be more palatable if it did.

Nobody was seriously suggesting that this tax would or should subsidize healthcare.

As for randy, I can only assume you were making another joke. Or is that really your best argument against universal healthcare? I know you can do better. You have a friend in me.

[kEiThZ @ Oct 19th 2007 3:51PM]

Like your version of health care is working so great for you guys? At least up here, people don't change jobs to get health benefits and companies dont go under trying to provide health care for retirees. And nobody up here, remortgages their house for heart surgery.

Our system has its flaws, but I dont have to decide if going to the emergency room is really "worth it". It may take a while to get knee surgery up here as somebody indicated, but be thankful that you get treatment and you dont have to bankrupt yourself to get it. And heck, if you really need it, you can always drive to the US and pay for it yourself.

By some estimates, the US spends 16% of its GDP on health care, Canada spends around 10%. It would be prudent to remember that the Soviet Union collapsed when spending over 20% of its GDP on defence...that the estimate for US health care costs in 2015.

As for Randy's comments on the American way...giving 233 bucks to help your neighbour is easy. But how would help him with his quarter million dollar bill for his triple bypass? Americans are generous, but I have yet to meet someone that's willing to sign their house over their neighbour.

[randy @ Oct 19th 2007 8:27PM]

LOL, none of you socialists here have any idea what you're talking about. You warn about the USSR spending itself into oblivion because its STARVING, over-taxed people could suffer no more, then you scorn America's founding principle of limited government? Pffft, huh?

At the same time, you declare your neighbor is entitled to keep ALL of his financial assets even after ordering thousands of dollars worth of heart surgery from his doctor? What, he can't move into someplace smaller? He's too important for that?

Regardless, I thought you socialists despised money hoarding pigs like that. How the hell does this greedy bastard fit in to your socialist utopian fantasy, while the father of a little girl with CP further down the street DOESN'T, simply because that father wishes not to subscribe to government healthcare so that he may instead purchase the type of private insurance which affords his daughter access to a world-renowned CP specialist?

And what is this ER hogwash? "Is my ER trip worth it"? Yes, I freakin' hope so! I WANT to live near a hospital where somebody really thinks hard before going and squatting in front of the counter in the lobby of my ER. Think about it.

And what is this %GDP nonsense? You really think you can compare the cost of my healthcare to yours, as if both are equal? Listen, I think most of you Canadians don't quite understand what makes your southern neighbor tick. The fact of the matter is -- we 'Yanks' live in a country so infinitely prosperous, we can have a kick-ass military AND private healthcare AND low taxes, ALL, SIMULTANEOUSLY!

Yes, here in the USA, we are indeed entitled to lots of fancy rights (famously). HOWEVER –– our founding principles do NOT entitle each citizen to six goats, an ergonomic neck pillow, and a fox-proof pheasant coop!

Nor is each citizen entitled to any form of medical treatment. Rather, each of us is simply entitled to a government which does not restrict our own ability to 'guard our future security', which in this context means buying health insurance, if desired.

While it may be a travesty to you that an elderly man with a failing heart may perish because he has refused to "mortgage his real estate assets" to fund his triple bypass, it is NOT a travesty to me somebody else has LIVED because they've been blessed with a degree of prosperity that affords them access to the most advanced treatment that has existed in the history of mankind.

[Wilky @ Oct 20th 2007 4:08AM]

Randy, it is people like you that give Americans a bad name. You're completely selfish and the only value that someone has to healthy existence is how much wealth they have accumulated (by whatever means it seems).

[kEiThZ @ Oct 21st 2007 2:56AM]

@Randy

You make me laugh, cause it is guys like you that truly give Americans a bad name. What are you doing for your country? American conservatives have big mouths and no commitment.

I am a Captain in the Canadian Air Force. I am proud of what I do. We have the third largest contingent in Afghanistan, and probably one of the most active in combat. We have all of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban. And according to a recent poll in Afghanistan, we have been ranked by Afghans as the most competent force in the country for both combat and reconstruction. So I suggest if you want to continue this line of ignorant thinking, you can meet me in person any time any where!

Your military maybe big but that does not mean its effective. If it was, Iraq would be a distant memory. There are lots of countries with big Armies. The Chinese have a massive one. I dont stay up late at night, worrying about them. In fact your military is so good, that its now wearing itself thin on its own. Thats the reason the US cant do its job in Afghanistan.

I have worked with plenty of US exchange officers. Its their own stories that convince me some things are better up here...I will trust the educated opinion of a US Navy Lieutenant Commander that I work with everyday over some numnuts on a blog. And yeah I do think your military is great....the leadership not so much. I have met members of your intelligence community (I have counterparts with the DIA, CIA and the NSA) and military who have resigned their posts over the Iraq debacle. Its these people who think your country is going to hell in a handbasket. The LCdr I work with is considering resigning her commission after her exchange posting ends. And another US Air Force Captain in my department already did that. If your military is so great, why are all these great people leaving? More importantly, why are they choosing Canada over any other place to go to?


As for our constitution and legal framework, they work fine. Our country was founded on three principles: peace, order and good government. I challenge you to show me, you have those principles in practice south of the 49th. Your system is so great, where someone can sue McDonalds for the coffee being too hot, and where teens have easy access to high caliber weapons. We may have our flaws but we dont have high school shootings as an annual tradition.

I assure you, sir, I am no socialist. But nor do I believe in a heartless society either. Health care like education contributes to the maintenance, of a strong and effective workforce. There's a reason all the major auto makers are advocating public health care in the US, and growing their Canadian operations. I agree that we need to allow some private health care into Canada and things are already heading this way. But the size of a person's bank account should not determine the length of their life.

I think the US is a great country and a great ally, and I am glad we are neighbours. I am plenty of family south of the border. But remember this: Good friends will tell you when you are in trouble. And your country is in trouble. Your dollar is on its way to becoming a paperweight. And the greed of your middle class has brought the sub-prime mortgage crisis which is about to inflict some serious damage on your economy. In fact, your economy is so poorly run, that China is your largest creditor. Your so proud of freedom that you let one of the most repressive Communist regimes in the world, bankroll your economy? What's more, your entire economy is hostage to a few Arab sheikhs. Remember the '72 energy crisis? And the US didnt even import that much oil then. The situation is such today, that Riyadh is now effectively dictating US foreign policy in the Middle East.

The chairman of the US Fed has compared the current situation in the US to the decline of the Roman empire, and he wasnt the first to make that analogy. If you are proud to be an American, I suggest you drop the rhetoric and start fixing what your ignorant ilk has wrought, before you ruin all your fellow countrymen.



kEiThZ - Proud Canadian, loyal friend to many yanks.

[geoff @ Oct 19th 2007 1:25PM]

I can't get my mind around how this is supposed to DETER illegal downloading... if you want to ENCOURAGE LEGAL downloading, why on Earth would you TAX IT?

[James @ Oct 19th 2007 4:00PM]

Because socialists still don't understand the principal maxim of economics: if you want less of something, tax it; want more of something, subsidize it. I doubt they ever will.


Also, ATTENTION AMERICANS: this can and probably will happen to you if you don't contact your congress-critter and tell them to renew the ban on internet taxation, set to expire at THE END OF THIS MONTH. So, uh, get on it already.

[Randomness @ Oct 19th 2007 1:39PM]

If itunes already pays the record label, which represents the artists, which pays the artist.... why do we need a tax for it that goes to the artist after another middleman does NOTHING and skims some off the top. Taxation w/o representation imo. I can't see why artists OR labels would like someone else taking money they have no right to or do anything to earn?

[robjennings @ Oct 19th 2007 1:46PM]

I skimmed a document regarding the decision found on the Copyright Board of Canada website. Although I'm no closer to understanding the rationale, apparently the CRIA opposed the decision, meaning that the labels did not support it.

[TheCanadianGeek @ Oct 19th 2007 4:55PM]

They already have lots of money they grabbed from the levys and haven't handed most of it over to the artists.

[Brassen @ Oct 19th 2007 1:40PM]

I don't understand this...

If you buy mp3 online, aren't you already paying taxes and the artists getting a part of that money?

[Jim @ Oct 19th 2007 1:48PM]

SOCAN is comprised of a bunch of idiots. What are the vendors supposed to do, send their customers an invoice for additional taxes? Sure.... This ruling will turn out to be the death of this organization. Maybe we need more lawyers in Canada?

[Grown Ass Man @ Oct 19th 2007 1:49PM]

If I am a Canadian Musician, and I record my own songs & sell them on my own website (which is hosted in another Country) How does this affect me? What if I am an independent artist, with no major label contract and NOT a member so SOCAN?

Would I be expected have to pay this new tax, if Canadian citizens decide to buy my music?

[CDN Crockett @ Oct 19th 2007 1:51PM]

It's still LEGAL to DL music in Canada, why buy?

[Rener @ Oct 19th 2007 1:53PM]

Here’s an incredible idea: Rather than taxing consumers, why not compel music conglomerates to fairly compensate artists for their work? I’m already paying iTunes, and iTunes is already handing 70% (gross, which means bandwidth, R&D, credit card processing, and other overhead comes out of iTunes’ end) to the music companies. Shouldn’t *that* money be going to the artists?

What possible justification could there be for an end-user tax?

[CoryB @ Oct 19th 2007 1:54PM]

It gets even better. So you purchase an album on iTunes and have to pay this tax there. You then burn it to a blank cd that has the same tax on it. And if you are really unlucky, you also load it onto your iPod that you bought when they had this tax slapped on them.

The justification for this is to compensate for people downloading music illegally. Nice.

I am really wanting to see someone get sued in Canada for downloading music illegally and take it to court as either these taxes to compensate for illegal downloading are illegal or we can download all the music we want in Canada without fear of a law suit. You can't have it both ways.

[jbcaro @ Oct 19th 2007 1:55PM]

Sounds like they have bascially killed the legal DL of music in Canada. Also, how do they expect to collect the tax retroactively back to 1996? This is Ludacris... Hope I don't get taxed for that.

[Sclath @ Oct 19th 2007 2:00PM]

And I thought all the legal-eagle dipsticks were just in the good ol' USofA. My condolences to the Canadians.

[Geoff Thompson @ Oct 19th 2007 2:12PM]

Let the piracy begin, socan is absolutly stupid if they believe we think the money is going to the artsts. I thought the artists already got paid for each song why do they need more, considering downloading music in canada is not illegal why wouldn't they just keep things status quo and try to get more peeps buying there crap then making people want to screw them over and pirate everything!

[Shmoe @ Oct 19th 2007 2:39PM]

It would still suck and not be right, but it would be slightly better if the tax went to benefit the public in some way instead of lining the freaking artists' pockets.

[Nith @ Oct 19th 2007 3:17PM]

Working fine my a$$. When I tore my ACL I spent 8 hours in the emergency room waiting, afterwards the doctor just told me it was a bad sprain and I'll be fine in a few weeks. It wasnt until a year later that I found out that my knee is fu*ked and I need surgery, by that point in time the damage was much more severe than if I had the surgery right away.

Not to mention that after the surgery they just shot me up with morphine prescribed T3s and sent me away. I didn't see the surgeon until 6 months after.

Compared to when I had my appendix removed in Israel (which only has private health care, and it is somehow affordable to nearly everyone) when I woke up from surgery I had 3 doctors and 2 nurses monitoring me.

I hate the conservatives but dual health care systems is how it should be.