Canadian copyright collective wants a music tax on memory cards

Michael Geist sez, "Canadians currently pay levies on blank CDs (and cassettes) and now the Canadian Private Copying Collective, which collects the private copying revenues, would like to establish a new levy on blank memory cards used in a wide range of devices such as smartphones and digital cameras. The financial impact of the levy would be significant. A 2GB SD card currently sells for about $6.00 and this would add an additional dollar or almost 15% to the cost. Given that the levy would remain static (or even increase) but the costs of SD cards are dropping by roughly 30% annually, the percentage of levy in the overall cost would likely gradually increase over time. Moreover, music plays a small role in the use of memory cards."

You know, I'd be willing to consider this as a wildly imperfect compromise, if the quid-pro-quo was no more file-sharing lawsuits and threats, no more DRM laws, no more lawsuits against toolsmiths and ISPs, no more censorship and surveillance demands... But as far as I can tell, the deal on offer is: "pay up and get nothing in return."

Forget the iPod Tax, Canadian Copyright Collective Demanding Memory Card Tax

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Anonymous

Down with copyright, culture belongs to the people.
jimkirk

In the US, I’ve seen shelves with “Music CDs” next to “data CDs”. Presumably the music CDs have the RIAA tax added and the data disks don’t.

How about paper? I’ve seen pieces of paper with song lyrics printed on them, some even with staves, clef signs and notes. Sure, you could write almost anything, but I think a penny a page for all notebooks and tablets shouldn’t be unreasonable…
Anonymous

So basically corporate entities want to force A TAX INCREASE on the Candaian citizen.

I’m betting not one anti-taxation corporation or politician in America will be outraged by this move!
Bloodboiler

Nice to know Finland is not the only country with a stupid system like that. To add injury to injustice, that money goes to “artists” that are not exactly topping most bit-torrented artists charts.
Jake0748

Imagine that… money grubbing business people want more money.

Really, they should get jobs, you know produce something. I’m an amateur photographer, I use tons of memory cards. I don’t wanna have to pay a tax for my blank media. (I’m in the US, not Canada, but shit tends to splatter).
If I thought for a minute that a significant portion of this tax/fee went to artists, I’d consider. But no, it won’t.
- barryfandango
  
  Jake0748, as a musician in Canada I can tell you that the recordable media levy *is* distributed to artists, even independents like myself, through Performance Rights Organizations like SOCAN. So now you must consider.
  - Lauchlin
    
    SOCAN is still an organization of thieves, and they just implicate actual musicians in their thieving. I am a Canadian and was one of those music fans who went out to shows every chance I got and probably spent a couple of thousand dollars per year on music, even when it was significantly easier to just get all my music online. I was one of those music fans until a couple of years ago, when I read about SOCAN levying fines against hairdressers for daring to play music in their salons without explicit permission from the entertainment bureaucracy.
    
    I haven’t bought a CD since, and I’ve discouraged everyone I know from doing so. You might want to reconsider your membership in an organization that’s giving you such a bad name.
James P

My biggest issue is that even if I buy my music legally, under the (soon to be) new copyright law in Canada I can’t break a digital lock to transfer the file onto my card whether or not I pay the levy. This means that I may pay twice without the ability to fully enjoy the rights associated with those costs.

Also, Howard Knopf’s take:
http://excesscopyright.blogspot.com/2011/05/no-thanks-for-memory-tax-stopping-it.html
sam1148

This was true in the 70′s with Cassette tapes. Each tape had a RIAA kickback paid to the RIAA. So, you could legally copy (for your personal use) anything from albums, Radios, or friend’s albums. As long as you didn’t sell it.

Radio stations would play entire entire albums without interruptions and encourage people to record them on tape.

Considering that..I would wonder if a bit-torrent sharing downloaded directly to those memory cards would be legal? I think the cassette tax is also still in effect. (I wonder if applied to video tapes as well?). If so, a maker device that DLs the music directly to a cassette tape in digital format..could still be legal in the US. Maybe?
- Jack
  
  Has it ever been pointed out that companies like Sony complain about CDs being ripped, yet sell the computers, burners and blank CDs used to burn CDs?
  
  Itâ€™s all crazy.
  - sam1148
    
    When CD-RW’s came out, the RIAA wanted a tax on those, but the computer lobby nixed that idea..saying those would only be used data storage, and the RIAA didn’t push it because they didn’t really see it as threat to them at the time thinking, in their shortsighted way, that burners would never be consumer devices in the home.
ted

I don’t think it’s a big deal that the Canadian Copyright Collective want this. They’d be idiots not to grab at basically free money. Hell, I’d do it too. The issue is that the government is pretty much expected to go along with it.
- Anonymous
  
  No offense, but there is absolutely no logic behind your assertion that if they can get away with it, they should. There’s economic deadweight loss in levying a consumption tax. Consumption taxes are by design capable of limiting consumption – it’s economics 101.
  
  If the Canadian Private Copying Collective is allowed to do this, the memory card manufacturers should counter this by demanding anything the CPCC represents that can go on a memory card should be taxed in return. I mean, it’s only fair, right? “They’d be idiots not to grab at basically free money.”
Laina Lain

I’m not surprised. The government makes it their job to find each and every way to get money out of us.
Anonymous

Our music empire is collapsing because of new technology. Solution? GIVE US MONEY
redesigned

I would gladly pay this if it made the copytolls go away. It would be a small price to pay for free culture. alas, this is just another grab for our money from the people who are already screwing artists and consumers, we would get nothing in return.

q: RIAA/MPAA, how much of our money is enough?
a: we can never steal enough.
Anonymous

The levy is kind-of awesome in that, though IANAL I _just_ studied this in my Entertainment Law class, it makes it de-facto, and maybe de-jure, kosher to pirate music — you actually _are_ paying for it.
- James P
  
  That’s true to a point. You would have to download the copy directly to the SD card. If you download an infringing copy of something to your hard drive and then transfer it to an SD card (or blank CD- also covered by a levy) you are still infringing copyright.
  
  There’s also the anti-circumvention issue (discussed in the blog below):
  
  http://jamesplotkin.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-will-they-think-of-next-new.html
classic01

They should tax the city’s air for transmitting their so precious copyright music for FREE!
- Anonymous
  
  Don’t give them ideas !!!!
- Gulliver
  
  Really it’s your ear that’s stealing the music. Perhaps they should get to tax all newborns with functional hearing. And just think of all those unlicensed vocal cords belting out copyrighted lyrics at karaoke parties. Maybe they could start taxing speech. Heck, let’s all just cut to the chase and hand all the money on Earth over to the entertainment executives then indenture ourselves to them for life…you know, like those lazy artists don’t appreciate all the work the label execs do. I hate thieves, especially thieves that hide behind their legal departments and write their own regulation carte blanche.
Anonymous

In Sweden, from June 1st we’ll have to pay a $26 copy tax on 250GB (and bigger) external hard drives, making them more than 50% more expensive (and probably more than twice as expensive in the near future).
BrendanBabbage

Would it then be an end to those that SUE people for downloading “Their” work? Meaning the companies that covet the works of others and are fighting to remain the “Gatekeeper” of popular culture.

Too bad NONE of it in any case would go to any musicians, doubleplus any REAL ones. The industry is feeding and regurgitating on itself. The top acts look like a police lineup of gangbangers and ho’s. They have yearly pop stars and toss ‘em out the window for the next act. If anything should be illegal it should be even listening to this so-called “Popular” music.

Don’t BUY any “Popular” music. Don’t LISTEN to any.

Find independent aka not sold soul to Devil, sells on own website, is cool with downloading realizing all music is “Busking” no matter what.
futnuh

I suspect Sony Music and the Sony unit manufacturing hardware are run as separate kingdoms. They would each be trying to maximize revenue and profit, even at the expense of the other.
hep cat

The only thing anybody I know uses blank media for is creating or distributing their own work.

I’m glad I don’t have to pay a fee on hard drives in the US, I think I’m looking at 9 TB sitting on my desk now.

My son’s band has fans in Canada , how does he get some of the Loonies collected on his behalf ?
Anonymous

Already existing in France since october 2007 :
http://www.service-public.fr/actualites/00632.html

and since february 2010 in Belgium :
http://archives.lesoir.be/?action=nav&gps=746229

This make people think they have a right to copy, since they paid for (or seen another way: you are suspected to be a thief from the moment you buy a memory support).
the_headless_rabbit

I’m a photographer. I need memory cards to make my work happen. Music isn’t the only digital media that can be copied. I want in on this action. How do I get my cut?

Hell, it makes far more sense for this cash to go to photographers. How many Ipods take memory cards?
(hint: none)

If these guys are pushing for government-backed extortion, why should musicians be the only ones benefiting?
- Jellybit
  
  “If these guys are pushing for government-backed extortion, why should musicians be the only ones benefiting?”
  
  You’re assuming the musicians are benefiting.
poisonborz

Welcome to the club.
Here in Hungary this is already a reality, for like 10 years.
Artisjus (local RIAA) puts a tax not only on memory cards, but every empty data storage sold. USB drives, CDs, DVDs, external storage, every sold box bears the holographic sticker of Artisjus.

And the tax bumps the price by.. wait for it… 34%.
Anonymous

Want to see what the rest of the world does with this sort of stuff? Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy
VICTOR JIMENEZ

Don`t let Canada transform into Spain,

In Spain we pay special “taxes” (taxed by a private company, not the government)not only for our cassettes, vhs, cd, dvd and blu-ray; we pay to the music industry for everything that can virtually store anything (not only flash cards, but also internal and external HDs, memory sticks, cameraÂ´s and cellphoneÂ´s internal storage, tvÂ´s internal HDs, etc.) and they are lobbying the government to let them taxe also the Internet, and the internet providers and the search engines.

It is madness, it is not Sparta, itÂ´s Spain.
Anonymous

In France, we’re already paying this tax on Sd Card, and on everything with memory installed like GPS, Smartphone, Tv recorder, external hard drive, Usb Thumb Drice, Floppy disk, etc..

And by the way, in France the tax for a DVD is 650% of the original price. Quite expensive,isn’t it?
barberobot

How does giving RIAA tax money help give money back to the record labels that supposedly deserve it. There is no link between memory cards and individual songs. Maybe we should tax paper, which could be used to copy books.
traalfaz

OK, with cassettes I could even see it to a point, but with CDs, I don’t think I ever actually recorded music to them unless it was stuff I already owned and just was making a mix for myself.

Memory cards is even worse. I have never even put copyrighted music on a memory card, I have a bunch but they’re used strictly for photography, MP3 recording (from microphone, like to record my own stuff), etc.
Anonymous

“You know, I’d be willing to consider this as a wildly imperfect compromise”

That you. Cory, would say this, depresses me that we are pushed so far to this end of the copyright argument, you consider this anything other than completely unacceptable under any terms.
Bloo

What this seems to be is “pay up, and fund our lawsuits”
Anonymous

We also have the same in France.

Taxes on blank CD and DVD, USB keys, memory cards, hard drives… It’s supposed to compensate for the right to private copy that we have, but we also have a DMCA-like legislation to remove this right with legally unbreakable DRM.

The tax is 0.33 EUR for a CD and 1.00 EUR for a DVD, which can be as much as 500% of the original price (yes, 500%: I can find 100 DVD for less than 20 EUR in countries without this tax).

The good thing, though, is that most of this money goes to the artists rather than to the labels.
Kaden

Think of it as a ‘Creator Tax’. Digital media significantly leveled the playing field in terms of both production *and* distribution costs, and this is a way for The Gatekeepers of Big Culture to get at least a few zlotniks from artists who would otherwise be bypassing them.
penguinchris

If it’s really just a flat $1.00 (CDN) per card, then frankly I don’t see this as being particularly onerous – because of the way memory cards are used, it’s not something that you need to buy frequently. Even as a photographer… I mean, there are some crazy photographers who treat memory cards as film and only write to them once, but most people re-use the cards and only buy new ones every couple of years (to upgrade the capacity primarily).

Not that I agree with this “tax”, but it’s not the same as taxing blank media like CD-R’s and cassettes (which I don’t agree with either, but at least it’s not a stretch of logic).

I am aware of the way storage devices (including hard drives etc.) are levied in some countries, and don’t think that’s right. In some cases it does make a little sense – in many countries iPods, for example, are levied – but because it’s inherently unfair to tax all storage mediums, none should be taxed at all, in my opinion.

Finally, it should be noted that a lot of people *do* store copyrighted music on SD cards – anyone who puts music on their phone, other than iPhones, uses micro SD cards.
penguinchris

One more thing; a sane policy would perhaps exclude memory card types that are generally only used for photography or personal recording, including full-size SD cards, compact flash cards, and proprietary formats from the likes of Olympus and Sony (though those are being phased out in favor of SD, generally; Olympus is phasing its xD cards out anyway as far as I can tell – my Olympus EP-2 is SD only).

Of course, we won’t ever see sane policies like this, because they’re fundamentally not sane!
Bloo

Well, IF they must tax memory cards, they can’t exclude ‘memory card types that are generally only used for photography or personal recording’ — because in this digital world it would be trivial to find ways to use those items for digital distribution and avoid their ‘tax’.

What it all boils down to is a whole pyramid of people who made money (and large amounts of it), not through creative expression, but through a parasitical relationship with creative individuals, now wanting our governments to ensure that the parasites service the de-lousing.
Baldhead

Let’s be clear here folks. The CPCC is not connected to the RIAA, or the CRIA (is that the acronym? too many) but rather the government, and pays the revenues directly to the artists, which in one way makes them better than the record labels, who historically avoid paying the artists as much as they can. What bothers me about this, aside from the basic assumed guilt issue (imagine a $.01 per litre levy for speeding- because they know you do it but can’t always catch you. same rationale) What bugs me is how we now have an organisation that is clearly looking to increase it’s revenue streams into areas that it doesn’t belong. A clear sign that maybe they are keeping too much of the money collected as “administration costs”. Stinks of corruption. Needs to be audited before another penny in levies is approved.
- emmdeeaych
  
  Yes, it is just SO clear that there are bright lines between the industry groups and the governments on both sides of the border.
  
  Nothing could be clearer. Wait. That’s sarcasm.
  - Baldhead
    
    What’s unclear? Not one penny collected in these levies goes to any record label anywhere. The levy has absolutely nothing to do with record labels and their losses over CD sales and instead goes to recording artists directly. Pretty sre I said exactly that. The levy may be BS and extending it also BS but it is not done to prop up dying record labels, but rather to compensate the recording artists. The difference is HUGE.
    - duncan
      
      “â€¦and instead goes to recording artists directly”
      
      Show me who has received this – directly or even indirectly. Nobody is getting this money because they can’t decide who to give it to. Does it go to Celine Dion because she’s a big star and has (probably) been pirated a lot or is it split equally among CDN music writers/performers/etc. as a result of being a registered member of Socan? Neither as far as I know.
      
      Here’s a scenario to ponder, Artist X is registered with Socan, has a band and gets a paltry royalty cheque when some one plays his band on college radio stations across the nation. He’d like to record a new album, which required lots of blank CDs. Not only is he not pirating music with them, he’s a member of Socan recording his own original music. Can he get that extra tax back? Not easily, if at all. Does he see *any* of all that money collected ostensibly on his behalf? Nope.
      
      So why are we doing this again? And now on jumpdrives? Because we all keep so much tunage on our little portable flash drives. Yeah. That’s what’s killing the recording industry; jump drive storage.
urizon

I’ve often wondered why no one has proposed this kind of solution (it’s similar to the way the BBC is funded). I would take it one step farther, though, and create a license fee for all forms of digital storage; cds, dvds, sata hard disks, thumb drives, etc. The only question is whether such a plan could ever make up for the revenue that filmmakers, musicians and their companies (though the companies always seem to manage to keep most of the money, for some strange reason) are losing to piracy. If paying this kind fee means that I could download legally and for free any movie or song that I want, whenever I want, I think the trade-off might be well worth it. The other problem, of course, would have to do with how royalties are distributed; and there would be other unforeseen complications, no doubt.
Anonymous

Is this really how a music recording company makes money? Based on the number of generic storage devices are sold? Who actually stores music on SD cards anyhow? Most people have iPods (thanks for that tax BTW) and pretty much no-one puts music on casettes and CDs. This whole thing is backwards, people who are taking digital photos are paying a tax to the music industry. Congratulations Canada and our Convervative government.
Anonymous

Let me get this straight, the music industry wants to levy taxes on everything that music might end up on? Blank CDs, casettes, and memory cards? What’s next, a 15% tax on every personal computer sold, every hard drive, every memory module, every person who walks by an apartment where music is being played indoors and in private?

Why does one industry think it’s owed anything from production and consumption in another industry? Do car companies deserve a cut in tolls and road taxes? Do cigarette companies deserve to get a cut in profits hospitals make from cancer treatments? Do I deserve lifetime revenue from the children I bear? Where does it end?
Anonymous

SOCAN is another group that tries to force independent artists to pay them, and tells them they have no option but to join. All they seem to care about is getting paid, whether it is by the artists or by anyone they can come up with a spurious reason to sue in hopes of a settlement.

Meanwhile, independent artists still need to pay royalties on the blank media they use, presumably to compensate the record companies for the sales they lose every time someone buys an independent CD rather than one from a major label.
Anonymous

So the government has decided that a business cannot be allowed to shrink so the tax payers must subsidize their profits? Can I start a business making carriages and demand the taxpayers support me every time they buy a car?

Where are the rght-wing and libertarians on this? This is as anticapitalist as communism. People who are assumed to be criminals and then must fork over their money to a business is a form of extortion.

And what do you get in return? Sensible copyright periods? Elimination of DRM laws? Nope, you just get robbed.

There should be NO tax on ANYTHING to prop up a business. If they want this system then they must hand over all their profits to the government. Either that or I get to use their mansions any time I want since I partly own them.