We’ll continue to fight to protect the value of the reproduction right
on many fronts, including securing hard-fought tariffs and favourable
licensing terms. We’re the right choice because we have been instru-
mental in attaining some of the highest royalty rates in the world and
establishing productive relationships with our licensees that promote
the prompt payment of rightsholder royalties.
We will continue to build on our proven track record in addressing
the complexities of work-by-work royalty invoicing and back-claim
processes in order to provide transparent reporting to all of our music
publisher clients.
CM: What are your ideal outcomes for some of these initiatives, and
how do you plan to work towards them?
VS: CMRRA will continue to establish strong relationships with and
pursue licenses for digital services as they enter the Canadian mar-
ket. We will launch new IT tools and solutions that provide unprec-
edented visibility into music use metadata so that publishers and
songwriters can benefit from the company’s broader mission of mak-
ing the business side of music easier for creators. CMRRA will contin-
ue to advocate for changes to the Copyright Act to ensure that music
publishers and songwriters are paid fairly while also addressing the
value gap that has emerged over the last decade.
Canadian Private Copying
Collective
Lisa Freeman
Executive Director
phones and tablets, and almost one third of them were copied with-
out a licence. That means the music’s creators received nothing for
2.7 billion copies made in just the past year.
CM: What are your ideal outcomes for some of these initiatives, and
how do you plan to work towards them?
LF: The Copyright Act must be amended to make this regime tech-
nologically neutral, so it can keep up with how Canadians consume
music. Then CPCC could ask the Copyright Board for levies on smart-
phones and tablets, where most private copies are made. Proposed
levies would only be around $3 per device because when everyone
pays a little, it amounts to a lot – and helps keep Canadian creators
making music. Other minor amendments would clarify that this legis-
lation isn’t about offering or obtaining music, just copying that cannot
be controlled. CPCC and 22 others made these recommendations
through the government’s 2018 review of the act, and we continue
advocating.
Before legislative change could be implemented, CD-R levies will
likely cease entirely. CPCC and supporters are therefore also seeking
in Budget 2019 an interim Private Copying Compensation Fund of
$40 million per year for 2019-2022.
Music Canada
Graham Henderson
President & CEO
The Canadian Private Copying Collective
(CPCC) collects and distributes private
copying levies on behalf of our member
organizations, representing songwriters,
recording artists, music publishers and
record companies. www.cpcc.ca. Music Canada is a passionate advocate
for music and those who create it. We
represent the major record labels –
Warner Music Canada, Sony Music
Canada, and Universal Music Canada –
and work to improve the music eco-
system in this country.
www.musiccanada.com.
CM: What are some of the key issues or
trends currently facing your members or the Canadian music indus-
try as a whole that you’ll be focusing on throughout 2019? CM: What are some of the key issues or trends currently facing your
members or the Canadian music industry as a whole that you’ll be
focusing on throughout 2019?
LF: Technology makes it easy to copy music to listen to wherever,
whenever. Creators license those copies wherever possible, but they
can’t license everything, like copying from illegal downloads. That’s
why, since 1997, the Copyright Act allows creators to be remunerated
for unlicensed copies through a levy (royalty) on sales of blank audio
recording media. But only media, not devices.
Unfortunately, that means that since 2008, levies can only be
collected on recordable CDs. As CD-Rs die out, compensation for cre-
ators has plummeted from $38 million in 2004 to $2 million in 2017,
but Canadians still copy lots of music. In a 2018 survey, we found
there were over 18 billion tracks of music stored on Canadians’ cell GH: Throughout the Canadian Copyright Act review that commenced
in 2018, it was clear that all corners of the music industry are ex-
periencing the adverse effects of the value gap – the discrepancy
between the massive music consumption that occurs online and the
inadequate compensation to the creators of that music.
The biggest takeaway from the review is that the value gap is
a real phenomenon hurting creators that desperately needs to be
addressed. Stakeholders across the industry were unanimous in
recommending a set of solutions to ensure music creators are paid
whenever their work is commercialized by others.
Addressing the value gap will continue to be Music Canada’s
52 CANADIAN MUSICIAN