Canadian musicians on copyright reform
p2pnet news | Music:- The Jammie Thomas affair continues to have repercussions, now sparking Canadian musicians who believe their fans are more important than Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s bottom lines, to respond.
The members of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC) say they’re renewing their calls for the Canadian government to ensure a made-in-Canada response to copyright reform.
“This call comes in the wake of the landmark judgment October 4 against Jammie Thomas, the single mother of two from Brainerd, MN who was hit with a penalty of $222,000 US for downloading 24 songs (approximately 90 minutes of music with a retail value of less than $25) and the Federal Government’s addition of ‘copyright reform’ to its list of priorities in last week’s throne speech,” says the statement, going on:
“When the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA) says ‘copyright reform’ what they really mean is ‘give a free hand to sue fans who download like they have in the US’,” explained CMCC representative and Barenaked Ladies front man Steven Page. “We hope the government has a better solution in mind.
“We think lawsuits like the one in Minnesota would be terrible for the music business in Canada. It’s shortsighted to say ‘See you in court’ one day and ‘See you at Massey Hall’ the next,” Page continued. “If record labels want to try and sue fans, we hope that they’ll have the courtesy to stop trying to do it in our names.”
The CMCC suggests a more effective legislative approach to peer-to-peer technology would be one that accepts current technological and music-business realities. “It’s been nearly ten years since peer-to-peer file sharing changed the music industry and, despite what some people suggest, suing people isn’t going to make it 1995 again,” Page elaborated. “Capitol Records v. Thomas is just another example of the drastic measures American record labels have been taking against their fans for years. Despite all this ill will, peer-to-peer downloading hasn’t shown any sign of going away. If the Canadian government wants to reform copyright it should be creating a made-in-Canada solution that looks to where the music industry is going, not where it was.”
Page has been there from day one, but in case you’re thinking the rest of the group is just a bunch of hopefuls looking for a way to garner a little free PR, check out the other names on the members’ list.
Stay tuned.
http://digg.com/music/Canadian_musicians_on_copyright_reform
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 am
I would very much like a legally reckognized system that is fair to artists and allows unlimited use of P2P to get any music. The cost of downloading any music with P2P needs to be fair to those who use it as well. Not everyone uses CDR’s for music.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
Page has been there from day one
right. a better name for the cmcc would be bnlfp (barenaked ladie free pr)
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:49 am
Barenaked ladies are legit. I remember receiving a cassette tape of their music on a street corner in Toronto. They were giving away their music before they were famous. If any musician is legit these guys are. Not my favorite music but they are good and any anyone can listen and enjoy even if it is not your style. No matter what you believe PR or not, if artists are going to speak out for consumers then they deserve some respect by doing so. If we can’t stand behind those who don’t speak out and we can’t stand behind those that do, then what is left? I thank god that some artists are smart enough to realize that suing customers is retarded. I will tend to support artist who do speak out than those who don’t.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:55 am
BNL/Page were prime movers in getting the CMCC happening. More strength to them, and the same to all the other people who are partners in the coalition.
Cheers!