Canadian Digital Music Sales Growing Faster Than U.S. in 2010
September 28, 2010
Share this post
2 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 278: Ben Waldman on Gander Social and the Challenges of Building a Sovereign Social Network
byMichael Geist

August 10, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
Named to Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers
Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Asking Google Maps to Defy the U.S. on Lake Ontario Would Undermine Canadian Digital Sovereignty
Big Money, Bigger Design Changes: What the Meta Settlement Means for Canada, Bill C-34, and the Age Verification and Privacy Risks That Remain
Unleashing the Trolls: Ontario Court Opens the Door to Liability for Influencers Who Weaponize Their Audiences
Why Ottawa Will Likely Join the U.S. in Opposing the Quebec Online Streaming Law at the Centre of the Trade Battle

Whirl, twirl, twist and curl
Well Mr. Henderson will come up with anything to sell his spin, here goes another twirl …
“As for this country’s larger gains in digital music consumption than the U.S.’s, the Canadian Recording Industry Association says the great white north is simply behind the curve, with services like iTunes showing up later in this country.”
The difference between the launch of Itunes in the USA and Canada was ONE YEAR, over half a decade ago. Check out the math below and tell me if you think, like Mr. Henderson, that explains four consecutive years of greater growth? I’m pretty sure there is something else at play here and I’m also fairly certain that Mr. Henderson would like to find some inexplicable way to blame this growth on ‘piracy’ if he could 😉
Itunes USA launch = 2003
Itunes Canada launch = 2004
Year that Canada started to have greater growth in digital musics sales than the USA = 2006
Years that Canada [2006-2010] has continued to have greater growth in digital musics sales than the USA = 4
It’s seems math and logic are not Mr. Henderson’s best strengths, but obscuration is at least a well used one.
The increase in overall sales is interesting, but it is also affected by a number of factors other than the ones that Mr Henderson mentions. Among other things is the penetration rates of high speed internet; in particular subscriptions which have higher bandwidth caps. While we are talking about music here, meaning that the average song is, what, something on the order of 5 MBytes, the bandwidth caps that have been in place, and the download speeds available have also been a hindrance to the expansion of the market. Mr Henderson should also take note that this affects the rates of piracy by download; the pipe is only so big.