“Canadians may soon pay a small tax on every legal music store download, says a new measure sanctioned by the Copyright Board of Canada. Requested by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the tax would apply at least 2.1 cents to every individual song download and 1.5 cents per track for complete albums. Subscription download and streaming services would themselves be charged between 5.7 and 6.8 percent of a user’s monthly fees. Minimum fees would also apply for every larger download or subscription,” MacNN reports.
“The surcharge would help compensate artists for piracy, according to SOCAN’s reasoning. The publishing group draws similarities between this and a 21-cent fee already applied to blank CDs in the country; the right to copy a song from an online store demands the same sort of levy applied to copying a retail CD, SOCAN argues,” MacNN reports.
“The tax may have a significant impact for online stores such as iTunes and Canada-based Puretracks, which will have to factor the amount both into future and past sales. The new tax would be retroactive to January 1st, 1996,” MacNN reports.
More in the full article, including links, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hosers, eh?
That is pure insanity.
Am I ever glad I left Canada – land of the perpetually taxed.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”hmmm” style=”border:0;” /> First the Canadian Government puts a tax on blank CD-R/RWs and DVD+-R/RWs. Now they want to tax LEGAL downloads? That is bloody asinine!
The Canadian Government can kiss my Royal Canadian Ass!
Compensate artists for piracy? More likely the big label companies. And isn’t it brilliant to punish the law abiding for the crimes of the scofflaws? That’s a good way to encourage piracy! Fools!
contrary to popular belief, not all socan members are rock stars (or wannabe rockstars) who are trying to “make it big” with a “cd”
perhaps i work for an orchestra?
Or any number of other non-cd related lines of work
in the Canadian “Music” business.
Needless to say, there are already taxes like this on other
things in Canada, this was inevitable.
This is what SOCAN wants, not what the Canadian Government will do.
As a music lover and tax payer, a tax payer that pays way more than my fair share, I want $0.25 per track, $2.50 per album, DRM free, digital downloads from iTunes at 256 kbps AAC.
SOCAN is not going to get what it wants, anymore than I’m going to get what I want.
SOCAN wants the money to offset piracy.
It’s only fair.
I want the cheap downloads to offset the absolute loads of crap that SOCAN members produce.
It’s only fair.
First off, the Canadian gov’t already taxes me on how many times I visit the restroom in a day.
Second, it would be 15 cents per album or 2.1 cents per song (based on 10 songs per album @ current 21 cent CD tax = 10/.21 = 2.1). Apple will most likely absorb this cost to keep the price at $0.99 per track and $9.99 per album.
Not unexpected as this has happened on all our music we’ve bought on tape or CDs.
The other incorrect part of the article is the “retroactive” tax back to 1996. First, the net started in 1994. Don’t think there were many digital downloads back then. Second, the govt generally can’t go back more than 7 years. Third, they can’t just impose a back tax. The music digital distribution companies would have need to be notified that the tax could be imposed. Then from THAT point forward, it would be possible there could be back taxes. Fourth, If Apple had been notified, they would have already been setting that fee aside. Consumers would not be responsible to pay. Only Apple. Bogus bogus bogus unless the Canadian government notified Apple previously OR if Apple has violated any EXISTING tax laws.
it seems SOCAN know exactly what they are doing, the last time I looked of the over $80 million collected from media tax they had disbursed less than $10 million, and the vast majority of that wentr to the likes of Celine Dion and Nickleback and not the starving artist they say it’s to support. These guy’s are looking after themselves as they get to keep a percentage of what they collect, tell me again the motivation for this?
jr
Wow. The ever stupid politician never ceases to amaze. Instituting a tax to compensate for piracy that will, well, inevitably <increase> piracy. That’s fucking brilliant.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.”
-Albert Einstein
Only our myopic Canadian copyright board would agree to tax those who are already freely making a choice to pay for what they could otherwise get for free on any P2P. I am a SOCAN member, but only because I simply must to have my content copyrighted; it’s like joining a union to get a job – you have no choice.
Oh, and to those “starving artists” who agree …. There’s a reason nobody’s ever heard of you – you’re not good enough for people to even want to steal your music. There are no cases of any song becoming hugely popular while the artist starves. I do however know of one musician friend who sold over 700,000 records and ended up with $0 thanks to record companies. Who’s the real thief?
“Canadians may soon pay a small tax on every legal music store download,” . . .
If you can figure out a way to download a store, more power to you.
Lucky for us Yanks that the U.S. Constitution specifically forbids retroactive taxes.
Although that hasn’t stopped some from trying.
And another thing…
How do you tax something before it even existed? Just how many legal, digital music download sites existed in 1996? And, more importantly, how many of them are still around to actaully pay any such tax.
Not many, I’ll bet.
Just one more example that politics (regardless of national origin or party affiliation) is the provenance of the brain dead.
Time for someone to dump some tea into the harbor.
Canada, it’s your turn!
I’m sure glad conservatives are in charge in Canada. They even want to start arresting evil dope smokers. Where is Dominic DaVinci when we need him?
Retro active tax? Wow. That makes me want to do business in THAT country. NOT.
“The surcharge would help compensate artists for piracy, according to SOCAN’s reasoning.”
Are you kidding me? Can these people really get away with this stupid crap? Ridiculous…
Most industries that I know of make up the cost of stolen goods by raising their prices, not by getting their governments to levy a tax.
This reminds me of the various stupid “blank tape” taxes that have been levied over the years by various governments on behalf of the entertainment industry. It’s special interest BS.
Retroactive to 1996??? They can’t be serious!!!
Point 1: What the heck does Mrs. Clinton have to do with this? Only in the US would someone as conservative as Hillary be called Liberal. I have the utmost love and respect for Americans but, boy, you folks really need to give your collective heads a shake. Both polical stripes are living in a climate of fear of each other and you are really not very far apart in ideologies!
Point 2. SOCAN – don’t get me started – Oops too late:
*large meeting room full of lawyers and accountants* “OK folks, I have an idea to make money. Let’s convince all the restaurants record stores, shopping malls, and music clubs that they have to pay us money which we will distribute to musicians. After we have paid ourselves, of course” – “Nudge Wink Nudge Wink Nudge Wink!! “Oh and we’ll sue for non-payment and pay ourselves the legal fees.” Pretty Cool Eh?
*Rant Mode* Toggle Off!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Well….this just proves how unprogressive Canada actually is…I mean…copyright laws in Canada do not make it a crime to download from Limewire or Kazaa….does Socan know that….? They are a bunch of stupid dumb farmers who live off of government grants…
Um, as some have already pointed out, this is not being passed into law, it’s merely a request that is being put forth. I highly doubt it will actually be passed into law, especially the part about retroactive charges.
I agree with everyone who thinks this is the stupidest idea ever.