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Some Canadians Fight to Reverse Court Decision
Facing the music
DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON SUN
-- Sean Kilpatrick, SUN
Federal Heritage Minister Helene Scherrer yesterday promised to plug the hole in Canadian law allowing people to legally download songs off the Internet without paying. Scherrer's announcement won loud applause from an audience of Canadian music industry types at yesterday's Juno Awards opening ceremony at City Hall, which also featured a staged "surprise" appearance from Prime Minister Paul Martin.
"As minister of Canadian Heritage, I will, as quickly as possible, make changes to our copyright law," said Scherrer yesterday.
The minister offered no details, but she was responding to the challenge posed by a recent federal court ruling that suggested uploading music files into shared folders on peer-to-peer Net networks is quite legal.
The ruling reaffirmed a recent decision by the Copyright Board of Canada.
Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled that the Canadian Recording Industry Association didn't prove file-sharing constituted copyright violation - and artists and producers have no legal right to sue those who swap files without paying.
The court decision inspired panic in the Canadian music industry; industry spokesmen were predicting the collapse of copyright control would cause severe financial hardship for people making their living from music.
Last night's announcement was greeted with relief by the Juno crowd.
"It means so much to everybody in this room," said Holger Peterson, president of Stony Plain Records.
"This is a very important statement.
"Copyrights have a value, and artists and songwriters would like to get paid for the use of their music. For the minister to confirm tonight that she's on our side, that's encouraging." But not everyone in the room was convinced.
Canadian Idol winner Ryan Malcolm expressed skepticism, and suggested the Canadian music biz find a way to live with file-sharers.
"Whether people download or not, as long as they're listening to music," he said.
"I think it's a challenge for the industry, to try and find a new way to survive."
User Comments
(These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
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purfus
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 11:07 AM
"The court decision inspired panic in the Canadian music industry; industry spokesmen were predicting the collapse of copyright control would cause severe financial hardship for people making their living from music. "
Wow like it just all of a sudden over night, people started downloaidng their music for free and are never going to buy another product again.... BS... I wonder how much money this one cost. |
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nitedreamerxp
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 11:44 AM
Now all the sudden money comes pouring in from the CRIA to the congress people of CANADA so now they feel obligated to serve the CRIA as in usual AMERICAN fashion.
and by the way "The court decision inspired panic in the Canadian music industry; industry spokesmen were predicting the collapse of copyright control would cause severe financial hardship for people making their living from music. " copyright rarely ever deal with the artist making money they get paid next to nothing copyrights are for the record labels and we all know that, now my question is were do they get off all the sudden being sympathetic to the artist it's blatant being disrespectful to the artist and fans the CRIA gets no sympathy from me as well as any of the other Organization assotiated with the RIAA.
they are a dark force screwing all humanity of rights.
On another note just today I read the sunday paper and what do I see an article stateing a federal judge has ruled the the RIAA can force the University of Arizona to identify four people accused of using the university's computers to download music just goes to show ya how wonderful our judicial system works to protect privacy rights of people and or the constitution sorry about the long post had to get it out there have a great day folks. |
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zxilton
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 12:16 PM
I can't stand it!!!
"Copyrights have a value, and artists and songwriters would like to get paid for the use of their music."
I agree...copyright has value..but I think they are stretching copyright to mean much more. Copyright should only mean that if I copyright something...nobody can come along right after me and create something thats exactly indentical to mine and claim its theirs and sell it. It should not be about copying something such as a song to another media. If I copy a song to another media..the creation of the piece of art is still attributed to the one who made it.
I agree also that artists should get paid for their work. But why does the industry use that damn same excuse out of one side of their mouth and then out of the other sides of their face they only give the artist pennies per cd sold...of which they have to split up between all the band members?
Its like, we pay a levy on all blank media in this country. Bars and any other public place that features music has to pay a sum of money every month to SOCAN to cover royalty costs. How are the artist not getting paid when we have a system in place covering all that crap?
The only people it affects is the suits and ties..the middlemen so to speak and their greedy lawyers and ya know something..those people are just not needed anymore.
It kind of makes me wonder about the intelligence and business sense of many artist out there. Its seems they are smart enough to get themselves where they and create great music...but it seems as if the brain cells end there. Why can't they see that they are in bed with an industry that has no mercy for them and would shack them off as soon as the next flavour of the week comes along?
Artists and musicians of Canada..wake the hell up will you please!!!!! You can do it all on your own. If you find you don't have time to take care of some of the shitty paper work..hire a couple people to do it like any other business would. Thats what I do..and its works great. I actually got a couple people who love my music so much that they volunteer to take care of my stuff.
The music industry is a network of people who have gained reputations with each other over the years which is why this one knows that one..and that one knows this one. We can create a new network of those types if we just do it ourselves. Over time it will happen anyways.
The other thing "they" will say is that music is as popular as ever. I don't know if I agree with that or not. I have an idea it's not that the music is so popular and great...its just that downloading is so convenient that it's the ease of obtaining the music that's become popular. If that is the case...then why the hell won't they strike a deal with some of these P2P software makers? Look how much money they could made over the last few years if they had done that. Its about control thats why. They can't stand competition. If they had any real competition..it would kill them. Alot of the bands they have promoted these days have probably gained their audiences through P2P sharing and not radio and MuchMusic or MTV. Here's a situation...,.my friend and I will be on MSN chatting about music he will say, "Hey man..check out this band....." then he will proceed to give me a song name and the band who its by. I will then go to P2P and download it and check them out. Do you know how bands I have personally became a fan of because of conversations like that? If I like what I hear...more than likely I will go and get the CD..and then if they come to my town..I will purchase their concert tickets. Do they even realize how many people do the same? I'm willing to bet their bands are getting noticed thru P2P and by alot of word of mouth more than anything. Otherwise I would have neve bothered with bands such as Finger 11, Nickelback, 3 Days Grace, etc.
Here's the reality. I've got a few songs on my harddrive. I actually downloaded a whole album by a band that I love. But for some reason it just wasn't enough..I can't explain it..but I went out and bought the CD too. Thats how it works...for some reason..people will download the music and then go out and buy the CD. I'm sure if they study that particular behaviour..they will out that their is a reasonable piece of phsycological science behind it. As for the other stuff on my hardrive...even if there were no means to download the music in the first place..I would have never bought the CD anyways. In that respect they haven't lost or gained a sale from me.
I know the argument to that would be, "Yeah but just you wouldn't normally go out and by a new car..does that give you the right to just go take one off the lot?"
That analogy is so stupid. First of all a car is a tangible object. Taking one from the lot would ruin their chances of selling that particular vehicle..they would lose money over that. Music however isn't tangible...making a copy of it still leaves the original there for selling no matter how times its copied and the people who like it that much will buy it anyways. You can use the vehicle analogy only if you are comparing it someone going into a music store and lifting the actual CD.
Alot of the music I have..I only downloaded because it was convenient, I would have never bought those CD;'s anyways. I would have never scoured the record stores for some of this stuff. The music I reall like..I have purchased anyways. The main reason why I downloaded anythingthat I have bought is because I didn't want to risk ruining the original. I certainly don't want to pay 20 dollars for a cd each time it gets a simple scratch..thats a scam operation.
Its simple why music sales aren't great. Its because the music for the most part sucks. There is certainly more forms of entertainment out these days that is keeping people busy. Judging by what I said above....they want to be glad P2P exists otherwise none of the current bands would be enjoying any type of success and we'd all be subject to an army of boybands and Brittany Spears and her clones.
If they manage to stop P2P...then you'll see that what I am saying will come true. They will sue people...piss people off and their music sales will go down a bigger toilet than they could ever imagine.
Again people in the music...get a clue will ya. Stop looking at this as a simple "stop music downloads and cd sales will increase" matter. Its not what is wrong with your industry. |
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ilikethissite
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 2:16 PM
zxilton, the best site to understand the current copyright law policy is to check out http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci There, you will find the terminology clearly; and unfortunately, Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
·To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
·To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
·To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale, or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
·To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
·To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
·In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
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zxilton
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 3:01 PM
ilikethissite, I understand what the copyright law actually covers..I should have worded what I said about it differently.
I guess the point is simply that i believe it has too much meaning and should only cover what I mentioned and not all the other shit.
If someone is copying the music to sell..then yup...slap em on the ass and give am a huge fine. If they are just downloading something they'd otherwise never buy in the first place or are obtaining a copy of something they've already paid their dues for....then I just don't agree copyright should apply.
This is why it needs to change. Just keep taking people to court..and they will piss on you in revenge. You don't sue people into buying CD's....thats foolishness. Thats about like raping someone so that they will have meaningful romantic sex with you later. |
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ChairmanMao
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 3:41 PM
Helene Scherrer email: scherh@parl.gc.ca
I'm sending an E-mail to her making it known that I will not be voting for the Libeal party this coming electon if their stance on this issue does not change. I think every Canadian that visits this site should do the same. Considering the current scandal surronding the Liberal party, if they get enough angry letters on this issue then hopefully they'll shut up about it.
And for anyone interested, the Canadian copywrite act: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/index.html
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gdZiemann
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 4:11 PM
Having already established that there is no law in place making file-sharing illegal, the Canadian politicians are promising to do make one.
Unless Canadians are better at writing laws than the US is, this will be an interesting test. Is it possible to criminalize file sharing without making the entire Internet illegal? |
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independentm...
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 5:12 PM
""As minister of Canadian Heritage, I will, as quickly as possible, make changes to our copyright law," said Scherrer yesterday."
Someone better tell her she just painted a bulls-eye on her forhead. (and perhaps not just figuratively in a political sense.)
I won't applaud if any of these copyright tyrants start getting shot, but I won't be suprised when it occurs.
Shmoo |
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MadMax2003
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 8:28 PM
Ok:
The fight is joined, if you are a Canadian who has been frequenting this site, you know what's coming. Let's make sure MP Sherrer as well as your own MP, and any other Politicians you can contact get both sides of the story, not just the selfserving, misinformation that they are going to be receiving from the CRIA and their supporters. I'm sure much of it will be from the RIAA, with just the name changed.
This site is a goldmine of information, and arguements which can be used to enlighten our Politicians and offset the Lobbying effort they will receive from the various proponents of the Entertainment industry both Canadian and International.
Let's make sure our Politicians can make an informed decision, it is a known tactic of the Music Industry to try to circumvent or overturn legislation which isn't supportive of their position., and this is the direction and effort we can expect in Canada.
I will be writing MP Helene Scherrer and I suggest all Canadians who frequent this site do the same, her eiMail address is, (Scherrer.H@parl.gc.ca.)
To find a list of all Canadian Members of Parliament go here
(http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html).
I don't know how to make these clickable links as part of this post but perhaps some other poster can help in this regard.
The main Government of Canada Web Site can be founf here;
http://canada.gc.ca/main_e.html
Don't delay, Act Now, Don't let the CRIA take the momentum.
I hope, posters such as Codewarrior, gdziemann and others who have been fighting the RIAA in the US, and who are much more informed, than I, will help us to educate our Canadian Politicians as well.
This is becoming an international fight, and Boycott-RIAA can be at the forefront.
We must fight for our rights as Internet users and consumers regardless of our geographical location, what we all have in common, is that our rights will be brought under attack by the RIAA, whatever its face in our individual countries, and this site can be invaluable in helping us to put forth our position.
Canadians, this is figurative Call to Arms, don't be caught asleep at the switch, become active now, before the battle is lost.
Sorry for the length of this post, but if we fail to act quickly, we may very well be out manuvered and ovetaken by events. Make sure that any change to our Canadian legislation reflectsyour interest, and that our politicians are very aware of the consequences of selling us out to Corporate greed. This is going to be an election year in Canada, lets make sure that this becomes an election issue.
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screwthecria
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Date: April 4, 2004 @ 10:48 PM
Madmax2003...I'm on it!!! From my MP to the PM, they're going to hear from me! Just saw Helen Scherr on the Juno's...ugly and dumb!!
BTW- Does anyone know the web addy of the group that was defending the ISP's in the now infamous Cdn. case? I think they were from Ottawa |
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