Blank Media Tax

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or you’re not part of the technology community), you’ve probably heard of the Copyright Board of Canada‘s current proposal to levy tariffs on blank audio media. The purpose of the proposed tariffs is to compensate the music industry for lost sales due to digital piracy. Unfortunately, this proposal is misguided and fatally flawed for a number of reasons.

First, the proposed tariffs are overly broad: The proposed levies apply to types of media that are not exclusively used for music. For example, the tariffs proposed would be applied to recordable compact discs, despite the fact that such discs are also used by businesses to archive their mission critical data. As another example, the tariffs would also be applied to “Removable electronic memory cards, removable flash memory storage media of any type, and removable micro-hard drives” despite the fact that those media are used by digital cameras and digital micro-recorders. These tariffs would ignore the legitimate uses of these forms of media (beyond music storage), as well as the protected uses of these media to allow a consumer to time-shift and space-shift their own music collections, as protected under Canadian copyright law.

Second, the tariffs only benefit the music industry: The proposed levies are purported to allow the music industry to recoup losses due to piracy. However, the media that is the target of the proposed tariffs can just as easily be used to pirate copyrighted computer software, movies, or electronic books. Why should these tariffs be levied solely for the purpose of protecting the music industry, while ignoring the other industries impacted by digital piracy?

Finally, there is no mechanism described for the distribution of funds collected: The proposed tariffs skimp on the details of how the funds collected through this tariff are to be collected and distributed to the copyright holders. Who gets how much? Is it decided by the music industry? Can they be trusted to pass along the appropriate amount to the artists? Probably not. I wonder if I cut a CD, I can qualify for a cut of the proceeds?

The thing that bugs me most is that although the Board is seeking input, there is no real way to oppose the adoption of the tariffs. According to the proposal document

“The Board must certify a tariff and set a levy. Those who own the rights to sound recordings of musical works (composers, authors, performers and producers) are entitled to be remunerated for private copies. No purpose is served by asking the Board to reject the tariff as a whole.”

What purpose is served by asking for input, if the Board is not actually interested in listening to any opposing viewpoints, and acting on them?

This tariff will have a dire impact on industries that are in no way responsible for piracy or even related to the music industry. The tariff would essentially be a subsidy for the music industry, and ignore the other industries affected by digital piracy. The tariffs are ill-conceived, and should not be adopted. If anything, they should be scrapped, as should their 2001-2002 equivalents. It’s just another sad attempt by the music industry to squeeze more money out of consumers, screw the artists, and pocket the extra cash.

Mad yet? Good. Write your MP. Or better yet, start downloading and burning music before the new tariffs take effect.