Recording industry to consumers: fear us!
Not you too, government!
Trevor Bekolay, Volunteer Staff
Over the past five years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued over 1,500 people for copyright infringement for file sharing on peer-to-peer networks. Suing 1,500 is itself an accomplishment, as identifying an Internet pirate is not an easy task. When you access the Internet, the computer you are using is assigned a unique number called an IP address. The RIAA seeks out IP addresses that are downloading music, contacts their Internet service provider (ISP), and threatens legal action unless the individual settles for $750 per song file.
This raises an important question: how can you determine who is responsible for the actions taken by an IP address? I don’t know, and apparently neither does the RIAA: they have sued a 66-year-old computer novice, people that don’t own computers, children as young as 12, and a dead person.
Fortunately, Canada is not subject to this shotgun legal approach. Canada’s Copyright Act allows for private copying, which extends to copying from online sources. In the eyes of current Canadian law, downloading is fine, but uploading is not. We pay for the right to private copying through a levy placed on all recordable media, such as blank CDs. Since its introduction in 1997, the levy has generated more than $200 million in revenues for the music industry and its artists.
Unfortunately, this might all change very soon. A bill that includes stricter copyright laws is expected to be introduced in the next few weeks.
Is this kind of legislation necessary? The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) thinks so. They claim that in the past five years retail sales have declined by $465 million and that the money lost in physical sales is not being recuperated through digital sales. Canadian artists are having trouble finding labels, because people just are not buying enough music.
Yet studies released this month by two federal departments contradict the idea that the Canadian music industry is suffering because of Internet piracy. Statistics Canada found that “Canada’s sound recording and music publishing industries turned a relatively healthy profit in 2005, despite the worldwide decline in record sales and increased competition from other forms of entertainment.” The report noted an increase in sales by Canadian artists — up 3.3 per cent to 21 per cent of total Canadian music sales — and an increase in music released by Canadian artists — an increase of eight per cent despite a drop of 5.6 per cent in music released by foreign artists.
Even more shocking is what Industry Canada found through a survey of 2,000 Canadians. The data shows that there is “a strong positive relationship between peer-to-peer file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases.” Extrapolating from this data, the study’s authors “find no direct evidence to suggest that the net effect of P2P file sharing on CD purchasing is either positive or negative for Canada as a whole.”
Why would the government then prioritize legislation to solve a problem that its own research has shown doesn’t exist? The short answer is pressure from the United States. The long answer is more sinister: the United States is exerting pressure from within the CRIA.
The CRIA was created in 1964 to represent the interests of Canadian artists and publishers. Yet the CRIA’s most recently elected board of directors consists of one Canadian and representatives from four major foreign labels. Canadian labels have been pulling out of the CRIA left and right, stating that, “It has become increasingly clear over the past few months that CRIA’s position on several important music industry issues are not aligned with our best interests as independent recording companies.” Independent labels feel that CRIA’s proposals “would have a material negative effect on the future growth of Canadian independent music.”
With few Canadian artists to represent, the CRIA has become an outlet for the RIAA to push their copyright reform in Canada.
The bulk of Canada’s artists are now a part of the Canadian Music Creator’s Coalition (CMCC). In a statement, the CMCC said, “Until now, a group of multinational record labels has done most of the talking about what Canadian artists need out of copyright. Record companies and music publishers are not our enemies, but let’s be clear: lobbyists for major labels are looking out for their shareholders and seldom speak for Canadian artists.”
Music is such a big part of so many people’s lives that it’s unthinkable that the recording industry will ever cease to exist. But organizations like the RIAA and CRIA cannot survive if they continue to sell more fear than CDs. People are willing to buy music, but the current distribution channels are not working. Radiohead released their newest album In Rainbows online and let consumers name their own price: 38 per cent of people paid, with an average price of $6. Though it was just an experiment and a publicity stunt, it is evidence that people are willing to pay what they consider a fair price for music. The recording industry needs to recognize how technology is changing music distribution and start giving consumers choices instead of trying to scare us into buying their subpar offerings.
Trevor Bekolay is a fourth-year computer science student.
