Bill C-11 Update
Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, will be up for its third reading vote by June 18th in the House Of Commons.
Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia Released
 
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The Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia was released in paperback and on Kindle .
Authored by Jaimie Vernon this two volume set continues where Rick Jackson’s “Encyclopedia of Canadian Rock, Pop & Folk Music” left off in 1994 and includes information on Canada’s pop scene from 1949 up to 2011. Each 400 page, alphabetically indexed volume features biographies and discographies for Canada’s most popular recording artists, as well as photographs of these artists. So it is definitely a must for the Canadian music fan. By the way, the Kindle version can also be viewed online via your browser using Amazon’s Kindle Cloud Reader |
A Vinyl Comeback ?
It appears that more and more consumers are choosing vinyl over compact disc when if comes to purchasing physical copies of their music.
According to Soundscan, Americans had purchased just over 330 million vinyl albums last year and over 76 thousand new record albums were released in the United States that year.
Apparently many audiophiles are purchasing mp3s for their portable players and purchasing vinyl for their home stereos instead of compact discs because they believe vinyl has a richer sound. And although many bloggers have claimed that this opinion was subjective, the sales of vinyl records continue to rise.
Regardless of the technological debate, consumers have not dropped vinyl as a physical format like the magnetic tape formats (8 track/cassette tape). And compact disc sales are dropping so dramatically in the United States that many major retailers have either reduced or eliminated the retail space they had dedicated to the format.
On the other hand, many online retailers have created vinyl stores to fulfill the demand, including Amazon.ca
in Canada, and Amazon.com
, CD Universe
, DeepDiscounts.com & JR.com
in the United States.
Yes, compact disc sales were still substantial at $225.5 Million dollars in the United States in 2011. But sales have slipped by 5.7% from 2010 whilst sales of LPs, digital singles and digital albums have grown.
LPs will not likely not surpass compact discs in sales anytime soon. But it obviously remains a niche product that is fashionable in certain circles, who also prefer the artwork found on LPs and 45s.
Compact disc inserts may be adequate to some but I personally prefer framing a LP for display if I am unable to find a poster of an album cover’s artwork. And I doubt that I am alone in finding the LP album cover more aesthetically appealing.
Many home audio systems and compact stereo units still include turntables but record players are available as separate components in Canada from Amazon.ca, and Sony.ca
.
Mp3tunes.com Files For Bankruptsy
Mp3tunes.com has filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District Of California.
The San Diego based company was founded by Michael Robertson in 2005 and offered cloud and music streaming services to its American members.
Mr. Robertson, who also co-founded mp3.com in 1997, blames litigation for the failure of the company in a May 1st, 2012 statement.
EMI has stated they would continue their lawsuit against the company, according to C-Net News.
Publishers Association Threatens Canada
A “coalition of international, regional and national publishers associations” has sent a letter to our government threatening retaliation for Bill C-11 with a WTO complaint.
Apparently they dislike several exemptions provided by the bill :
“As currently drafted, however, many provisions of C-11 may allow a broad group of public and private institutions and organizations to copy and distribute works under a vague and intentionally broad educational exception in ways that publishers and authors license, thereby promoting strife and litigation, and potentially violating all three elements of the three-step test.
Similar concerns also relate to the exceptions for non-commercial user generated content, the display exception and the tests and examination exception, the exception relating to publicly available material on the internet, and the inter-library loan exception.”
The International Publishers Association is comprised of about 60 international organizations from 50 nations and is based in Geneva.
RIP Billy Bryans 1949-2012
This morning I was saddened by the news that drummer percussionist Billy Bryans had passed away at the age of 63 after a lengthy fight with lung cancer.
In 1979 he had co-founded one of my favorite Canadian bands, The Parachute Club, which scored numerous hits in Canada and abroad in the 80’s with their reggae seasoned pop and rock including “Rise Up” and “At The Feet Of The Moon“. And since the late 80’s he has become a world renown producer and engineer in the Cuban music scene.
He was truly an innovator and will surely be missed.