Allowing corporations to dictate copyright…
…is a bad idea. I think most people can agree on that. I’m worried that despite Jim Prentice’s assertions to the contrary (though, I’m disinclined to believe him, after his blatant lies on CBCs Search Engine), things like this could become possible in Canada:
Recording Industry Decries AM-FM Broadcasting as ‘A Form of Piracy’
Yup. The largest tool that music has ever had to promote itself - Radio - is piracy. Seems the RIAA wants to charge a license fee to radio stations to play music, after all, "music without payment is piracy". On the other side is the argument that the artists on the radio gain exposure that they wouldn’t otherwise have had by being played on the radio, and so a royalty fee should not have to be paid.
This is yet another example of the RIAA clinging to an outdated business model, losing a ton of money, and instead of reinventing itself, they are turning on all their supporters. People who buy CDs are potential pirates. Radio stations that promote their artists are pirates.
My concern is that Bill C-61 was built through consultation with the RIAA and MPAA, without Canadian input. What happens when these behemoths attempt to put more pressure on the government to allow them the same kind of policy setting madness they’ve been allowed to perpetrate in the US.
Here’s another reason that these companies shouldn’t be allowed to have input into law: The MPAA Says They Shouldn’t Need Proof To Sue You:
…the MPAA attorney, who seems to feel very inconvenienced by the whole "due process" thing writes, "It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement."
Finally, I want to point out something from the CRIA’s website. Who is CRIA? They are the Canadian Recording Industry Association. And they are the RIAA’s Canadian mouthpiece. They don’t represent any Canadian artists. Their job is to pretend that they represent Canadian artists while putting American pressure on the government and other media outlets. Here’s a "news" article from the CRIA site (which was originally published in the Sun): Canadian Creator and Music Industry Groups Applaud Introduction of Copyright Bill. Of course CRIA applauds the bill. The article refers to a "A broad coalition of Canadian creator and music industry organizations today applauded the introduction of copyright reform legislation by the federal government." The eight organizations?
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM Canada), Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA), Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA), Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), Music Industries Association of Canada (MIAC), Music Managers Forum Canada (MMF) and the Retail Music Association of Canada (RMAC)
This makes me suspicious of the numbers quoted in the article:
The eight groups, which represent approximately 21,000 professional performers and 15,000 musicians in Canada, Canadian artist managers, music publishers, music retailers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of musical instruments, and record labels of all sizes
The bulk of the quoted number “21,000 professional performers” comes from ACTRA (now that I look at ACTRA’s website, I sadly see that they are repeating the same lies as Jim Prentice. Sad, because as an actor, I hate to be disapointed in one of the most powerful voices for actors in Canada, but I am), which naturally is not something that CRIA want’s you to know. After all, if 21,000 of their “36,000 Canadian creators and enterprises” come from one organization, where’s the remaining 15,000 come from? Maybe I’ll look into that later.
The bottom line is that the last thing that we need, are organizations like RIAA, CRIA, and the MPAA dictating policy to our government, which they will then use to treat Canadians like criminals.
