News From Canada.............Cost is going up!
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Prices for DVDs, electronics about to skyrocket: retail group
Last Updated Tue, 10 Dec 2002 16:43:49
TORONTO - The cost of buying electronic products and recordable CDs and DVDs will be skyrocketing, according to an organization of retailers.
Price of recordable CDs will go up
The Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access (CCFDA) is an umbrella group of retailers, manufacturers and distributors.
The CCFDA says the music industry is pressing for a substantial boost in the private copy levy.
"Most consumers aren't even aware of the levy," says Diane Brisebois of the Retail Council of Canada. "(If they were), there'd be outrage."
The levy was imposed more than two years ago to compensate artists for having their music recorded by consumers. The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) was set up to collect the money. The CPCC represents music labels.
The levy is imposed on analog cassette tapes, mini-discs and CD-Rs and CD-RWs.
The CPCC collects $21 out of the $50 charged for 100 recordable CDs. The CPCC wants to boost the levy to $50, increasing the total cost of 100 CD-Rs to $89.
Retailers and electronics makers say other devices will be part of the levy system including recordable DVDs, MP3 players, digital cameras and even cellphones containing MP3 players.
Consumers 'subsidizing' the music industry
"Canadian consumers will be asked to pay $112 extra on the retail price of some of these products," says Brian Levy of Radio Shack. "This will kill the market here and drive consumers to the United States."
Montreal band 'Datson Four'
The coalition says it supports the need to compensate artists for music being copied, but it would like to see another process put in place.
"Consumers who do not copy music are paying for those who do," says Paul Tsaparis of Hewlett Packard Canada.
Tsaparis says the music industry has collected $28 million so far from the levy none of which has gone to artists or composers.
In the U.S., a three per cent fee is charged on the wholesale price of blank audio CDs and minidiscs raising about $6 million every year for the industry.
"They haven't adapted to the new technology," says Trevor Anderson of the Montreal band Datson Four. "Music is such an intangible thing, it's easy to lose control of it."
Anderson says he'd like to see a system that directs the money towards artists.
"Consumers should not have to subsidize the music industry," says Kevin Layden of Best Buy/Future Shop.
Layden and members of the coalition are calling on Canadians to write to their MPs, or to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps. The coalition wants the levy repealed.
Meanwhile, the Copyright Board will be hearing arguments in January about an increase in the levy. A decision could come as soon as early spring 2003.
"What we're seeking is a fair degree of compensation," says David Basskin of the CPCC. "No other country has ever gotten the ball rolling as fast as we have you can't come up with a system to distribute money to more than 50,000 claimants overnight."
Product Current Levy Proposed Levy
Audio Cassette 29 cents 60 cents
CD-R 21 cents 59 cents
CD-RW 21 cents 59 cents
CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio, Minidisc
77 cents $1.23
Written by CBC News Online staff
Last Updated Tue, 10 Dec 2002 16:43:49
TORONTO - The cost of buying electronic products and recordable CDs and DVDs will be skyrocketing, according to an organization of retailers.
Price of recordable CDs will go up
The Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access (CCFDA) is an umbrella group of retailers, manufacturers and distributors.
The CCFDA says the music industry is pressing for a substantial boost in the private copy levy.
"Most consumers aren't even aware of the levy," says Diane Brisebois of the Retail Council of Canada. "(If they were), there'd be outrage."
The levy was imposed more than two years ago to compensate artists for having their music recorded by consumers. The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) was set up to collect the money. The CPCC represents music labels.
The levy is imposed on analog cassette tapes, mini-discs and CD-Rs and CD-RWs.
The CPCC collects $21 out of the $50 charged for 100 recordable CDs. The CPCC wants to boost the levy to $50, increasing the total cost of 100 CD-Rs to $89.
Retailers and electronics makers say other devices will be part of the levy system including recordable DVDs, MP3 players, digital cameras and even cellphones containing MP3 players.
Consumers 'subsidizing' the music industry
"Canadian consumers will be asked to pay $112 extra on the retail price of some of these products," says Brian Levy of Radio Shack. "This will kill the market here and drive consumers to the United States."
Montreal band 'Datson Four'
The coalition says it supports the need to compensate artists for music being copied, but it would like to see another process put in place.
"Consumers who do not copy music are paying for those who do," says Paul Tsaparis of Hewlett Packard Canada.
Tsaparis says the music industry has collected $28 million so far from the levy none of which has gone to artists or composers.
In the U.S., a three per cent fee is charged on the wholesale price of blank audio CDs and minidiscs raising about $6 million every year for the industry.
"They haven't adapted to the new technology," says Trevor Anderson of the Montreal band Datson Four. "Music is such an intangible thing, it's easy to lose control of it."
Anderson says he'd like to see a system that directs the money towards artists.
"Consumers should not have to subsidize the music industry," says Kevin Layden of Best Buy/Future Shop.
Layden and members of the coalition are calling on Canadians to write to their MPs, or to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps. The coalition wants the levy repealed.
Meanwhile, the Copyright Board will be hearing arguments in January about an increase in the levy. A decision could come as soon as early spring 2003.
"What we're seeking is a fair degree of compensation," says David Basskin of the CPCC. "No other country has ever gotten the ball rolling as fast as we have you can't come up with a system to distribute money to more than 50,000 claimants overnight."
Product Current Levy Proposed Levy
Audio Cassette 29 cents 60 cents
CD-R 21 cents 59 cents
CD-RW 21 cents 59 cents
CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio, Minidisc
77 cents $1.23
Written by CBC News Online staff
Comments
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in the states the audio cd r and rw have add tax on them that is y they are so much more expencive than regular and they are all the same if they rais the price i will mail order my cd r from over seas or where i can get them the cheapest i usto pay 25 bucks us for a cd most of my colecton i payed 16 for but now i can get most of my colecton for 10 a piece
if they sold single songs at resonable priceses and the reccord company dident rip off the artist then i would buy more cd but i dont listen to cd that much anymore i listen to the raido in the car and listen to mpc on my comp once in a blue moon.
at least you canadains dont have the DMCA