Au Revoir MusiquePlus
Quebecois music video broadcaster MusiquePlus will go off air in August.
This is one the channels I use to watch alternatively with Much Music in the 80’s and 90’s, which introduced me to francophone rock and pop from Quebec/Canada, France and Belgium, through music videos and live performances.
Unfortunately, like most music channels they started diversifying their content in the late 90’s, slowly leaving music videos behind and i’ve stopped watching it because it had been flooded with “reality” programs.
When Youtube came along in 2005, this was the beginning of the end for these stations, the coup de grace being Vevo, which came online in December 2009.
I will miss it, especially Claude Rajote’s “Le Cimetière des CD”, one of the channel’s longest running music critique program.
Canadian Buys HMV
The Guardian reports that Doug Putman of Sunrise Records is the new owner of HMV and that 100 of the 127 stores will remain open in the United Kingdom, saving 1500 jobs.
Sunrise Records, a record store chain that was founded in Toronto in 1977, had taken over several HMV stores in Canada shortly after HMV Canada had closed their stores by April 30th, 2017.
Riddle
Who wears sunglasses at night and is being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame this year?
Starting on May 31st, Corey Hart is will be touring Canada with Glass Tiger to promote their latest albums.
A Sad Day In The U.k
The last remnants of HMV are in trouble in the United Kingdom according to Sky News, a year and a half after closing in Canada.
Founded in 1921 in London, this music store flourished and became Britain’s largest music retailer until running into financial issues in 2010 due to the shift towards digital music and film, which resulted in the closure of the World’s Largest Music Store on Oxford Street on January 14th, 2014 and Irish chain in August 2016.
Today the chain has entered administration for the second time since January 5th, 2011 and at risk are 130 stores and 2200 employees.
Another Cash Grab?
The Copyright Act is being reviewed by the Canadian Government and some Canadians are of course concerned that this will include an extension of private copying levies to cell phones and the possibility of websites being blocked for minor copyright violations.
Unfortunately the government has been pretty quiet about this since their December 17th, 2017 press release and I didn’t want to speculate. But a line in the sand needs to be drawn, regardless of what is and isn’t being considered in the closed door meetings they might be having with foreign lobbyists.
I don’t think cell phones should be subject to the private copying levy because streaming is the preferred method of obtaining music on this device according to Music Canada, some customers listening to radio on these devices. And the possibility of having my site blocked because I accidentally linked a site that decided to offer pirated music is just absurd but these kind of proposals have been made in other countries.
This isn’t about giving artists more of their dues but giving labels more money. And streaming is where the improvements are needed when it comes to royalties for artists, so I see no point in levying cell phone storage.
The Copyright Board proposed levying hard drives and microSD memory cards in 2014 but that propose was rejected because a “recording audio medium” is defined by Part VIII, Section 79 of the Copyright Act as “a recording medium, regardless of its material form, onto which a sound recording may be reproduced and that is of a kind ordinarily used by individual consumers for that purpose”.
A cell phone’s primary function is communication, not the receipt, storage and playback of music. And this device is also used to take and view photographs and videos.
It makes no sense to levy this device for royalties for music and nothing else. And this slippery slope is not advantageous for consumers, who would object to paying levies for storing photographs, video and games on their new smartphone, or tablet.
I don’t like being gouged on data fees so I don’t listen to music, watch videos or play video games on mine now. And I seriously doubt i’d enjoy paying more for a newer model, for services I wouldn’t use.
Do we really want to burden the cell phone industry with this? And when it comes to blocking, this can be bypassed with Virtual Private Network services, so is the government going to go after those as well in the name of copyright?
VPNs are used by people who travel and use public wi-fi, for security reasons. Do we really want to loose access to this service over piracy? When a sharp decline in music piracy was observed in 2017 by Music Canada?
A form has been made available by Open Media to provide comments to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on these issues.
Please submit this form and share this link and your opinions on social media before September 17th, 2018. Thank you.
Update – Response on Netflix/Internet Tax
From my local Member of Parliament, Karen McCrimmon (Dated June 13th, 2018) :
“Hello Rob,
Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas with me.
Our government understands the importance of supporting our artists and creators. We also know that the way Canadians access content is changing. That’s why we have made historic investments of $3.2 billion, to support our artists and creators. It’s also why we will be modernizing our laws and programs to better support our artists in the digital era.
Netflix’s investment is a part of the transition. It secures 5 years of investments for our creators, as we modernize our laws and programs.
We, as a government have decided not to introduce a Netflix tax because we don’t want to raises taxes on the middle class, we want to lower them. We will always look at ways to strike the balance between a fair tax system and the investments we need in our culture, but in doing so, we’re not going to be raising taxes on the middle class through an internet broadband tax.
I will share your ideas with my fellow colleagues, including the Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau.
Thank your again for your engagement as a constituent.
Kind regards,
Karen”
I had suggested that if taxes on streaming services are absolutely necessary that they consider forwarding a portion of the federal taxes collected from these services to Canadian Content initiatives, instead of introducing an independent levy for that purpose.
As i’ve mentioned in a previous entry, these services will be taxed on New Years Day in Quebec and the Canadian Radio & Telecommunication Commission had made a proposal of their on in regards to levy to fund Canadian Content.
The publics views have been made clear by a February 2017 poll conducted by Innovative Research Group earlier in 2017. But I had thought to send my opinion and suggestions to my local MP and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly in response to the CRTC’s recent proposal.
If you wish to contact your local Member of Parliament on this issue, you can do so via the MP database by clicking here.
I will of course update this blog if the situation changes.
Thank you.