“The Japanese government will propose this week a plan to charge copyright royalties on sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, as well as on digital hard disk recorders, a major daily newspaper reported Tuesday,” The Associated Press reports.
“The Agency of Cultural Affairs has not yet decided the amount of the fee, but it would likely be around 100 yen (95 cents) per device for an annual total about 1 billion yen (about $9.5 million), according to the Asahi Shimbun. The proceeds would go to recording companies, songwriters and artists,” AP reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s get real; mainly the recording companies. Whatever scraps are left over go to the songwriters and artists.
AP continues, “Older devices, such as minidisk and DVD recorders, are already subject to a copyright fee… Despite an aggressive push by the Japanese recording industry, a similar proposal to impose an ‘iPod tax’ fell apart in December 2005 after a government committee failed to reach consensus on the issue.”
“Electronics makers are expected to mount strong opposition to the new levy, as they did on the earlier proposal,” AP reports.
Full article here.
[Attribution: Macworld UK]
If at first you don’t succeed in screwing your citizens, try, try again.
The Recording Industry is looking for double payment and to charge multiply times for the same content everywhere in the world. End the madness, support indie artists now!
Hello Tax Kitty?
Why should anyone subsidize a dying industry?
If at first you don’t succeed in screwing your citizens, try, try again
Yeah: as an alternative, why not try borrowing so much that 19% of general taxation goes on interest repayments.
When the economically prudent Japanese need to consult on fiscal management, I’m sure that the US Government will be high on their list of potential advisers.
Then again, maybe not.
Japanese government eyes ‘iPod tax…
I…will….resist…making….joke……
Hey Ron…go for it……
Support your indie musicians.
All of these outfits with “altruistic” goals should be taken out on a sunny day and scraped up and down a gravel road!!
Here’s an idea: create content worth buying. You will never stop pirates, but the majority of consumers are willing to pay a reasonable price as long as it’s easier than piracy.
@ MCCFR
What are you talking about? Did ANYONE say anything about consulting the US government? If you’re going to go after someone’s comment then at least try and make your reply relevant to what they said.
Now I’ve calmed down…
I was watching an interview with Meat Loaf this morning and he was saying that in all the years, he’s barely received any substantive royalty payments from his various labels.
And he’s sold over 30 million albums.
He could do the smart thing and sign directly to iTunes.
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s get real; mainly the recording companies. Whatever scraps are left over go to the songwriters and artists.
You’re being optimistic. Mainly the government. Whatever scraps are left over go to the recording companies. Nothing to the songwriters and artists.
History lesson: In the US the government instituted the income tax at 1% and it was to be temporary to pay off long standing war debts.
Well here we are at 2008. Guess it wasn’t temporary nor was it kept at 1%.
Never, never let government institute new taxes or raise them.
It’s definitely a record company idea. The money will not be split according to what actually gets played, only given to the big record companies. Support indie musicians all you like, the record companies will still get your money.
With the inevitable desertion of musicians from their parasitic masters, this is the only way record companies can continue to get money for nothing.
For those Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden anime fans:
RASEN-TAX !!!!!!!!!!
wait – did i read it correctly? every type of storage device would be taxed. it doesn’t matter if it is an indie artist you are sharing, or your personal letters – in order to buy a new hard drive – you have to pay an RIAA tax.
support the indie or not – if this passes, the only way to get new storage is to pay the RIAA first!
big/medium/small business, RIAA haters and lovers, everyone will pay the RIAA tax.
As someone who creates music in his spare time, this is why I will never join the existing music industry – it is corrupt and run by people who are long accustomed to getting rich off the works of others.
I have no desire for the fruits of my labors, the outpourings of my creative soul, to be “owned” by companies or organizations which did nothing to create it. And I’m probably not the only potential musician thinking this way.
At the risk of drawing everyone’s flames, and not wanting to side with the recording companies…: one interesting factor here in Japan is that CD rental stores are ubiquitous, and have been for the past 15 years. Copying from rental CDs to tape, then MD, now MP3, has always been commonplace here. It’s likely the tax is seen as a penalty on the makers of the copying devices rather than on the consumer, and therefore a fair tax. The outcry against the tax is from the electronics makers, not the consumer. The irony of the copying issue is that Sony Entertainment claims injury from users of Sony Electronics products, and Time Warner claims injury from the users of AOL’s network. The big guys now playing the victim are in bed with the ones that gave us the copying tools.
It’s not just musicians that get screwed. A lot of the foreign levies taxes are collected for films and TV programs for DVD-R and DVR’s. This money is supposed to go to the artists who created these works under the Berne Convention. Not to the studios, but to the artists by name.
But guess what? The studios are talking all the money anyway. How are they doing it? With the help of the unions that are supposed to be protecting these artists. That is, the WGA, DGA and SAG. For more information, check out:
http://www.screenrights.net
For lots of commentary and documented evidence. Or:
http://wgarumorsandscandals.blogspot.com/
For more commentary. The studios launder this money through various countries keeping it off shore to avoid US Taxes (stealing money from the treasury and violating the Patriot Act).
The money is also used to lobby in foreign countries to weaken copyright protection for individuals in favor corporations. Copyright is a human right. At least it was supposed to be.
A secret contract was recently signed in Lithuania between the Lithuanian collecting society and the WGA to secretly transfer money due to WGA members to the studios.
Here’s the link:
http://www.screenrights.net/agreements/Lithuanian/Lithuaniancommentary.php
The collection society gets to keep a piece of the money meant for US writers in exchange for helping the WGA launder it to the studios. WGA members where never told about this deal and in violation of US law, weren’t allowed to vote on it.
What is particularly despicable about this is that Lithuania is a new young democracy, that signed onto the Berne Convention to protect artists. But very quickly, corrupt US corporations, with the help of corrupt US artists unions, rush into the country, wine and dine the collection society and get it to sign corrupt deals.
Does this cash get distributed to all the artists round the World? All the recording companies round the World? and all the songwriters round the World? or is it only for Japanese based companies, writers & artists.
If it is for the latter, how will the Japanese government reconcile tracks sold in Japan from non Japanese companies, songwriters & artists?
If they decide to stuff all foreigners so to speak, how will they react if the rest of the World decides to stuff all Japanese companies, artists & songwriters? After all there is a huge global market for Anime therefor by default they would stand to loose far more than the Japanese government could ever hope to rake in with an ipod tax.
Wake up Japanese Government and smell the Roses, not the deathly smell of the zune.