As sales of CDs continue to plummet and music downloading continues to increase, record companies and artists alike are trying to think of ways to change the traditional business models of the music industry. Radiohead and other bands are giving their music away, Universal is bundling songs with Nokia cellphones, and Prince is suing everyone he can get his hands on. In the U.S., litigation by the record industry is the dominant response to downloading, while Canada has the "private copying levy," which adds a fee to the cost of blank CDs, and uses the money to compensate artists.
A group of Canadian artists want to take that latter idea and extend it even further: In an open letter to the federal government, the artists behind the Songwriters Association of Canada say that instead of just a fee on blank CDs, they would like the government to impose a $5-per-month levy on all Internet access in the country, with that revenue going to musicians whose music is being illegally downloaded. The letter appears on the SAC website. Here's an excerpt:
"We believe the time has come to put in place a reasonable and unobtrusive system of compensation for creators of music in regard to this popular and growing use of their work. The plan we propose would not change or interfere with the way Canadians receive their music. No one would be sued for the online sharing of songs. On the contrary, the sharing of music on Peer-to-Peer networks and similar technologies would become perfectly legal. In addition, Music Publishers and Record Labels would be fairly compensated for the crucial role they play in supporting Canadian music creators."
The statement goes on to say that "File sharing is both a revolution in music distribution and a very positive phenomenon. The volunteer efforts of millions of music fans creates a much greater choice of repertoire for consumers while allowing songs... to be heard. All that’s needed to fulfill this revolution in distribution is a way for Creators and rights holders to be paid."
Unfortunately for the SAC and its supporters, a blanket fee on Internet access is likely to be a hard sell. Not only does it penalize the vast majority of Internet users who don't download music illegally, it penalizes those who download lawfully through iTunes and other services even more. Those users effectively pay twice (one could argue that they already pay twice, since they pay for bandwidth that is used up by downloaders using BitTorrent and other "peer-to-peer" services).
In some discussion groups and forums, the fee is already being referred to as a tax. On one site, the SAC is referred to as representing "greedy" songwriters, and on another the association is described as "punishing everyone for the sins of the few." Members of a popular music-industry mailing list have raised a number of issues, including the question of what counts as an Internet connection (i.e., mobile, wireless, etc.) and who gets to administer the money raised.
According to Billboard magazine, which used a survey by Yankee Group showing over 7 million Internet accounts in Canada in 2007, such a fee could raise almost $500-million in levies if it were imposed.
