Post Tagged with: "copyright"

Randy Bachman - 2009.01.12 by Stephen Dyrgas (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/5SbJ71

Guess Who Claims Canadian Music May Go Silent Without Another Copyright Extension?

The government’s gift to the recording industry wrapped up yesterday as Bill C-59 received royal assent and with it, the term of copyright for sound recordings was extended from 50 to 70 years. I’ve chronicled in detail how the extension of the copyright term without public consultation or discussion hurts Canadian consumers, reduces competition, and is a direct result of record label lobbying (surprise, cost to consumers, limited competition, reduced access to Canadian heritage, lobbying impact).

As an added bonus, groups have started to use the extension to argue that the government should also extend the term of copyright for authors from the current term of life plus an additional 50 years to life plus 70 years. Randy Bachman has an op-ed in the Globe and Mail today calling for a copyright term extension that must be read to be believed. The piece was not only a day late (he calls for the government to extend term in the same budget bill that already received royal assent), but contains some of the most absurd claims about copyright in recent memory.

June 24, 2015 — 14 comments — News

Spotify on iPad air & Bose qc15 by Julien Sabardu (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/qY32kW

SOCAN Reports Canadian Internet Music Streaming Copyright Revenues Soar 525%

SOCAN, Canada’s largest music copyright collective, released its annual report this week, reporting record revenues and a massive increase in earnings from Internet streaming services. SOCAN reports that copyright revenues from Internet streaming hit $21.3 million, a 525% increase over the $3.4 million generated in 2013. The huge increase in Internet streaming revenues in Canada points to why persistent criticism about Tariff 8, a Copyright Board tariff for Internet streaming misses the mark. As I pointed out last year, Tariff 8 is only part of a larger ecosystem of royalties paid for Internet music streaming.

Indeed, the fact that songwriters, composers, and music publishers are successfully generating new revenues from Internet music services has actually been a target of criticism by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which has intervened in tariff proceedings involving SOCAN to argue that its tariff proposals are “grossly excessive.”

June 18, 2015 — 3 comments — News

Twin Peaks, Plate 2 by Thomas Hawk (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/61x4pj

Netflix vs. CraveTV: More Than 90% of CraveTV Titles Are Not Available On Netflix U.S. or Canada

Bell’s recent characterization of Canadians using virtual private networks to access U.S. Netflix as thieves has attracted considerable attention. Yesterday, I posted on why accessing U.S. Netflix is not theft, noting that a minority of Canadian Netflix subscribers use VPNs and arguing that the frustration seems rooted in business concerns rather than legal ones. The post added that Netflix and CraveTV (Bell’s online video service) have little overlap in content. Working with Kavi Sivasothy, one of my research students, we took a closer look at the libraries of Netflix U.S., Netflix Canada, and CraveTV. We relied on AllFlicks.net for the Netflix data and CraveTV’s own A to Z page for its data.

Based on that information, how many titles does CraveTV offer that overlap with Netflix U.S. and are not available on Netflix Canada? Not many. In fact, the data suggests that there are some CraveTV titles that are not available on Netflix U.S., but are available on Netflix Canada. Overall, more than 90 percent of CraveTV’s titles are not available on either Netflix U.S. or Netflix Canada. [UPDATE: Thanks to a reader for pointing out a few omissions from the chart. The error was due to different spelling in the Netflix and CraveTV lists. The numbers have been updated].

June 9, 2015 — 32 comments — News

Day 200 - Why am I still working? by TiggerT (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/8pxqTY

Sorry Bell, Accessing U.S. Netflix is Not Theft

Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke sparked an uproar last week when she told a telecom conference that Canadians who use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access the U.S. version of Netflix are stealing. Turcke is not the first Canadian broadcast executive to raise the issue – her predecessor Kevin Crull and Rogers executive David Purdy expressed similar frustration with VPN use earlier this year – but her characterization of paying customers as thieves was bound to garner attention.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues that Turcke’s comments provide evidence of the mounting frustration among Canadian broadcasters over Netflix’s remarkable popularity in Canada. Netflix launched in Canada less than five years ago, yet reports indicate that it now counts 40 per cent of English-speaking Canadians as subscribers. By contrast, Bell started its Mobile TV service within weeks of the Netflix launch, but today has less than half the number of subscribers.

June 8, 2015 — 54 comments — Columns

Let's sit this one out by spDuchamp (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/58upK9

Canadian Copyright Extension Set To Pass Committee As Recording Industry Lobbyist The Only Copyright Witness

The government’s decision to extend the term of copyright for sound recordings to 70 years appears set to pass through the Standing Committee on Finance with practically no debate or analysis. The committee will conduct its clause-by-clause review later today and there is no reason to believe that any changes will be made to the copyright provisions. The committee has conducted extremely limited hearings with only one witness invited to discuss the copyright extension: Graham Henderson, the President of Music Canada (formerly the Canadian Recording Industry Association).

Given the previously released personal letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Henderson on the day of the budget confirming the copyright extension, along with the extensive lobbying on the issue by his organization, it comes as little surprise to find that Henderson was the sole witness invited to appear on the issue as the entire policy change has been driven by record industry lobbying. Yet as Henderson invoked Paul Anka – an accomplished songwriter who undoubtedly generates more revenue from his works that will remain under copyright for many more decades than from sound recordings – the committee heard only press release style comments on the benefits of the change with background documents that cited no specific studies nor hard data about the impact of the reforms.

June 4, 2015 — 2 comments — News