Post Tagged with: "CRIA"

Canadian Music Industry Lobby: Put SOPA Into C-11 Or Stand With Illegal Sites

The reports that the music industry lobby (along with the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and the movie lobby) is seeking the inclusion of SOPA-style provisions into Bill C-11 has generated considerable discussion online and in the mainstream media (CBC, Financial Post). Yesterday, Balanced Copyright for Canada, the group backed by the music industry, fired back with several tweets claiming that opposing their reforms would benefit “illegal BitTorrent sites“and “illegal hosting sites.” Leaving aside the fact that if these sites are illegal, they are by-definition already in violation of current law, the claims point to what seems likely to become a SOPA-like scare campaign that seeks to paint skeptics of CRIA demands as supporters of piracy.

These claims involve two different issues with Bill C-11. The first are the digital lock provisions, which dozens of organizations (including businesses, the Retail Council of Canada, creator groups, consumer groups, and education associations) have argued are overly restrictive. The proposed solution is to link circumvention of a digital lock with actual copyright infringement, an approach that is consistent with the WIPO Internet treaties and has been adopted by trading partners such as New Zealand and Switzerland (Canada even proposed the approach in Bill C-60). These amendments would not legalize hacking businesses, but rather ensure that the same balance that exists offline is retained in the digital environment.

February 2, 2012 — 31 comments — News

From Deadwood to Opportunity: CRIA Changes Its Tune on the Canadian Online Music Market

For many years, the most prominent critic of the Canadian online music market has been the industry itself. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (now known as Music Canada) has consistently argued that few would want to invest in Canada due to the state of our copyright laws. For example, in 2009, CRIA President Graham Henderson published an op-ed that said our trading partners were racing ahead of Canada, which he argued was a product of Canadian copyright law. A year later, Universal Music Canada appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and told MPs the legal uncertainty meant that the investment was going to other countries.

This week, the industry seemingly decided to change its tune. It released a new guide on licensing digital music in Canada that identifies the key organizations that license music in Canada, including the record labels and several copyright collectives. The report highlights how there are services in Canada in all the major segments, including digital downloads, non-interactive streaming, on-demand streaming, and music videos.

January 26, 2012 — 15 comments — News

Why Copyright Reform Is Not the Cure for What Ails the Music Industry

This weekend, I was pleased to deliver a keynote address at the Nova Scotia Music Week conference. While groups like CRIA (Music Canada) position themselves as industry-wide representatives, discussions with many in the industry in Nova Scotia revealed considerable disagreement. My talk – Why Copyright Reform Is Not the Cure for What Ails the Music Industry – focused on CRIA’s conventional talking points and assessed Bill C-11 provisions on statutory damages, ISP liability, the enabler provision, and digital locks. See this post for links to the supporting documents, additional articles and sources on each issue.

November 7, 2011 — 5 comments — Conferences, News, Video

CRIA Gives Award of Appreciation to Ex-Liberal MP McTeague

CRIA, now known as Music Canada, has given an Award of Appreciation to former Liberal MP Dan McTeague. I wrote about McTeague as CRIA’s Unofficial Spokesperson last February, which later escalated into competing blog posts. McTeague was defeated in the May election. CRIA also gave an award to Conservative MP […]

July 15, 2011 — 6 comments — News