Is Canada's iPod tax back? And if so, will BJ Snowden get her cut?
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 17th 2010 3:24PM
posted March 17th 2010 3:24PM
We know, BJ Snowden is an American artist -- but since her song "In Canada" is probably on every iPod and computer up north, we have to wonder whether a proposed amendment to the Canadian Copyright act will help her finally get what's coming to her. The brainchild of the New Democratic Party's Charlie Angus, the bill would extend 1997's Private Copying Levy "to the next generation of devices that consumers are using for copying sound recordings for personal use." Proponents of the plan says that it ensures that artists get paid for their work -- essentially, the government wants you to pay upfront for the music you're likely to steal anyways by taxing your next digital audio player purchase. Of course, much about the plan doesn't make sense (it doesn't address digital video, for instance, or the computers that people use to download and store their music in the first place) but we guess we'll let the Canadian government hash that one out. This is obviously not a new idea, and it is one the courts have rejected already, but who knows? Maybe this time it will "take." Lets hope not, eh?
Update: No surprise, but the levy is already being shouted down by Industry Minister Tony Clement calling it "totally nonsensical" and "180 degrees in the wrong direction" with regard to the government's strategy to embrace the internet, not stifle it.
Update: No surprise, but the levy is already being shouted down by Industry Minister Tony Clement calling it "totally nonsensical" and "180 degrees in the wrong direction" with regard to the government's strategy to embrace the internet, not stifle it.
It's called HST.
@n0ne I'm from Canada and I don't even know who that is... lol
@werty1432k I watched the video. I don't like her.
@werty1432k
You don't know "who" HST is?
>___>
@n0ne The woman... not HST.
@n0ne never heard of her or her song either. Engadget u is dum. D-U-M-F, Dum!
Haha, the Oilers suck.
@Deeival
haha your olympic hockey team sucks.
@grahamj
haha agreed
@grahamj woot woot, Go Canada!
@werty1432k You guys got it all wrong. I was in downtown Vancouver when we won the gold medal; cheering for Canada.
Reccomendations for places to move to if this happens?
Oh, man. That video is atrocious.
Couldn’t have picked a better Canadian clip? A certain overtime goal from a few weeks ago jumps to mind…
@Nitesh i hear American socialism is better then Canadian socialism
but at the rate the socialist in chef is on track to make Canada and Europe look free as a bird
@angelwolf
What's the chef's best dish? Healthcare al la carte?
@Nitesh
It has already been shot down.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Ottawa+rules+levy+compensate+musicians/2691679/story.html
@Nitesh
"Reccomendations for places to move to if this happens?"
America! FUCK YEAH!!
@DirtyVegas Other then there :-P
@Nitesh
Sweden
Iceland
Belgium
Switzerland
Norway
Denmark
Japan
Anarctica
How's that?
Doesn't effect me. As a Canuk I make all my purchases in the good ole USA! to save money. Even buying out of province helps me sometimes. Just got a 24 inch samsung monitor for less then $250 bones taxed and shipped.
BTW for our American friends, New Democratic Party or NDP = Obama Socialism if he has his way.
@harjon456 Your a fan of the current MP then? That's some madness...
@n0ne That's a big NO. I hate the NDP and hate Obama's politics too. I don't need the government charging me for things I don't use or need so others can use and take advantage.
The NDP needs to retire politics for the good of Canada.
I'm all for it -- guilt-free piracy! If they're going to assume I'm guilty and fine me for it in advance, I'm downloading as much as I fucking want.
@Xax that does bring up an issue: unintended consequences would seem to rule this one. If they go ahead and tax people because of piracy, won't piracy increase - if I'm paying for it, I'm using it?
@Xax
Amen to that. They also already have a $0.21 per CD-R levy going on right now so that "artists get paid." I do buy a lot of my music anyway, but for the stuff I don't want to shell out for, this works for me :)
@HaZaRd But waht If Im burning my music which I created onto a CD-R? that's some SB!
I understand the logic, here. But if they're doing the tax, they'd need to tax anything electronic. Taxing MP3 players only makes no sense. Honestly, the tax wouldn't even need to be that much, like 1-2% and it would probably recoup any artist revenue lost to piracy. And if the money went directly to the artist, the slime-balls in the recording industry probably couldn't take it, like they do now. Things like this are at least better than DRM and lawsuits. I'd pay more for an iPod if it meant that DRM went away and I knew the extra money was going to artists.
@aeiluindae Oh, there's very little logic. Last time (I don't know about this time) "Audio" CD blanks were taxed, "Data" CD blanks not so much.
Turns out it's _really_ hard to find audio cd blanks (there's a specific difference in a media flag that some high end audio recorders bother to check - plus they cost 4x more) so no big deal. Except to those of us who didn't do their research and stocked up on blanks before the tax went into effect...
@aeiluindae Here's a good question, how do they know what artists to give the money too? Since the tax is done upfront do they just pay anybody with music copyrighted in Canada equally? If so could somebody just release something that is just complete crap and collect just as much from this tax as a #1 artist? Or does the government just hold onto the cash because they can't think of a fair and balanced way to pay it out?
@aeiluindae The current industry doesn't reward the good artists, either. The best-selling artists tend to have music that is to good music as a twinkie is to food. Feels nice going down, but it isn't good.
To a few other commenters, the NDP may have their head in the clouds, but they at least have some redeeming qualities. I don't know if you've noticed, but the Conservatives are bullies and the Liberals lost everyone's trust. I don't like the NDP (I vote Green, if any), but they talk the right talk for many things, at least.
And copyright, in the grand scheme of the millions of other issues facing the planet (poverty, injustice, war, climate change, terrible atrocities on every side), is not that big a deal. ACTA scares me a little, but there are bigger things going on than some little dispute over copying music. People in China get executed for dissent and we're complaining because we might pay a little more for the iPods they make for us for next to nothing. I'm not saying we ignore it, I'm suggesting we all get some perspective.
Ahh yes, the classic solution for any politician. Throw more money at the government - it'll fix everything! Do not worry your little brain with what happens with that money, citizen... move along. Nothing to see here.
@paul34
they're not trying to 'fix' anything. it's a cash grab.
like a tax on pizza.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6275T720100308
What Xax said. The good thing about this stupid tax is that once it goes into effect, it's very hard for The Man to argue that downloading is illegal. Plus, last time this happened and was repealed, I got my $25 refunded for the iPod I bought, AND I kept the downloaded music....
(This is just talk - I prefer the (hopefully) uncompressed audio of CDs unless I'm grabbing a 30-year-old one-hit-wonder off iTunes)
For what it's worth, I'm Canadian (born in Ottawa, no less), and I've never heard of BJ Snowden.
@Shunnabunich Ditto!
@Shunnabunich
...came here just to say that. Never heard of her or this song...
If anything's on all Canadians' iPods right now, it's "I Believe"--I'm getting pretty sick of it.
@Shunnabunich neither have I and I live in winnipeg.
@Shunnabunich No idea either.
I live in Canada and I always thought it was these taxes/levies that made it not-illegal to download music online.
And I'm not joking. Its not (or hasn't been) illegal to download music like it has been in the US. So I'll take a tax on a music player every couple years or on the few black cds I buy a year in order to download like a bastard.
As I understand it it's a good thing, it's been our defense for copyright infringement in Canada, we just say already paid for it when we bought the iPod...
And so the Pirate Bay sails into a safe harbor in Nova Scotia....
Hahaha, BJ Snowdon.
Heh, BJ...
The NDP never will/has pass a bill or an act. (Present continuous tense). Good luck to them!
@ultran00b Whoops Grammation fail here. :/
@ultran00b
It was already shot down.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Ottawa+rules+levy+compensate+musicians/2691679/story.html
@marcomera Not surprising at all... It is in fact the NDP and they are all for show only.
@ultran00b The day the NDP takes a majority in Canada will be the saddest day in history.
I'm going to continue downloading whether it's legal or not, so down with the levy I say.
eh? AYE!