Canadian Consumers Could Pay Dearly For Their Next iPod

by , 10:00 AM EST, December 12th, 2003

The next time you buy a pack of blank CDs or scroll through the playlist on our iPod you'll think of our northern neighbors after reading this: Canada currently collects a tariff on media that can be used for recording music; cassette tapes, blank CDs, and similar items. The purpose of the tariff is to compensate Canadian artists for losses incurred due to consumers reproducing their music. According to the Toronto Star, a decision is being made today (Friday, Dec. 21, 2003) that could significantly increase and broaden the scope of current tariffs, including even digital music players like the iPod.. From the article, Copyright body may slap levy on digital music players:

That 20-gigabyte MP3 player going under the Christmas tree this season could soon cost 20 per cent more if the Copyright Board approves a proposed levy tomorrow on the sale of digital music devices.
It could also mean new levies on recordable DVDs, removable flash memory and micro hard drives, as well as increased tariff rates on blank cassettes and recordable CDs, assuming a music-industry group called the Canadian Private Copying Collective, or CPCC, gets its way.
[...]

"It's the kind of decision that's likely to leave everybody unhappy," said Michael Geist, a professor of Internet law at the University of Ottawa and technology counsel for Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

"The retailers won't like it because they don't like the levy, period. Consumers won't like it because they won't be paying a fair price for the product. And copyright holders will probably feel they're not getting enough."

[...]

Under the proposed levies, a pack of 50 recordable CDs that have 700 megabytes of capacity will have a 49-cent levy on each disc. Today, that pack costs CAN$29.99, but the levy would impose an additional financial burden of CAN$24.50 if approved

Read the full account on the Toronto Star Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

There's nothing like being forced to pay for piracy, whether or not you are pirating. That's what happens with compulsory licensing for music, which is what this is, and it's just as wrong stealing music. Even for those doing the pirating, there's no correlation between what is being pirated and which artists get compensated.

There are folks -- like our friend Andrew Orlowski of The Register -- who think that compulsory licensing is the digital equivalent of the second coming and the final solution for piracy, but we reject it as the wrong solution for the wrong problem.

There must be major changes in the music industry, but treating everyone as a pirate, and making everyone pay for the sins of some people is not the solution. Worse yet, it is immoral, unethical, and a boon to the status quo in the industry.

In the meanwhile, these levies will hurt Apple, Dell, and the other vendors so affected. While everyone will be hit by the same percentage increase, the steep increase will move many of these devices out of range of a lot of consumers. Again, this is all to benefit a business model in the music industry that is really what should be changed.