Luke Simcoe, OP Contributor 06 was hardly a banner year for the music industry. Sales 4.9 percent — — the fifth drop in the last six years — — H the soundtrack to the Disney Channel movie High School sical moved 3.7 million units to become the worst-selling ber one album since Nielsen Soundscan began recording es in 1991. To make matters worse, Nickelback’s A// the bht Reasons was the year’s top selling rock record. In contrast, digital music sales rose by 65 percent in 2006, 1 sales of complete digital albums doubled to 32 million. ese statistics parallel the growth in Apple’s dominant iPod H iTunes marriage. iPod sales rose an astounding 409 per- t in 2005, and the company shipped more units in the first f of 2006 than in all of 2005. In turn, iTunes has become fifth largest reseller of legal music, digital or physical, in United States. iPod and iTunes command a US market hre of 78 and 88 percent, respectively. Despite these signifi- t numbers, many analysts believe that digital revenues are pinning to plateau and won't be able to revive an industry t has shrunk by 25 percent ($2.5 billion) since 2000. In an erview with Ro/ling Stone, Josh Bernhoff, an analyst for irrester Research, said “people just aren’t as much in the bit of buying music. They may listen to music as much as ry used to, but it’s not necessary for them to keep buying CDs.. And they don’t go the iTunes store enough to make for it.” My iPod is a fifth appendage, and I’m an avid listener and loader (sometimes legally, mostly not) of music. In fact, the Internet is an essential tool for anyone who wants keep abreast of the mercurial independent music landscape. nsequently, I decided to dig a little deeper and find out put what’s going on behind the scenes here in Canada while transition into the digital marketplace. The results are dis- bing, to say the least. In Canada, the Copyright Act is the single most influential ument relating to music and downloading, and in recent rs, amendments to the act have been some of the most tested areas of federal policy. According to Sheila Copps, heritage minister who presided over the last round of pyright reforms, the 1997 omnibus copyright bill, which Canada adopt, but not ratify, the World Intellectual bperty Association’s (WIPO) Internet treaties was “the sin- -most lobbied bill in the history of parliament.” The PO treaties, conceived in Geneva in 1996, were designed to bvide an international standard for copyright protection in ordance with the new digital environment. The treaties e been signed or ratified by over 58 countties, and it is ieved that significant changes to Canada’s Copyright Act are essary to enact them. ow Copyright Affects ouTube and iPod: he Burning Issue of Canadian Copyright Reform In 2005, the government introduced Bill C-60 in an attempt to ratify the WIPO treaties. The bill contained legisla- tion that attempted to outlaw peer-to-peer file sharing, and allowed for industry groups and police to demand that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) hand over information regarding personal online activities without a warrant. It was also in favour of aggressive digital rights management (DRM) technology like that used by Sony/BMG in the 2005 copy protection scandal. Over 1800 Canadians signed a petition against the bill on the basis that it violated the rights of users. While it passed first reading, the bill was effectively killed when the opposition Conservatives passed a non-confidence motion and dissolved the parliament on November 29, 2005. The issue has remained in limbo since then, but Conservative heritage minister Bev Oda will be announcing a plan for revised legislation in the very near future. Whatever the Conservatives concoct, it will likely resemble Bill C-60, as the government is under continuous pressure from industry lobby groups such 4s the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) and the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) who claim that “Internet piracy has devastated [the] industry with lost retail sales of $425 million, staff layoffs exceeding 20 percent, and severely reduced opportunities for Canadian artists and music.” Furthermore, Oda has been accused of accepting bribes from copyright holders and ignoring the voice of Canadian consumers. One such voice is Howard Knopf, a Toronto lawyer and representative for the Balanced Copyright Collective and the Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access. Knopf has accused the music industry of wanting to have their cake and eat it too because “they want what they consider to be unau- thorized downloading to stop, but they still want to keep and indeed to increase the levies” on blank recording media. The CCFA is not only in favour of repealing the existing levies, but also of decriminalizing any activity by individuals that does not involve financial gain or result in provable and quan- tifiable financial harm to artists or distributors. Knopf wants such activity covered under expanded ‘fair-use’ exemptions that would protect Canadians from the far-reaching legal arms of the music industry. If indeed the Conservatives ignore Knopf’s concerns and simply repackage Bill C-60, the results will be unfriendly for music fans. Our ability to enjoy the flexibility of digital music will be compromised in order to protect the industry’s stub- born bricks and mortar approach to their product. Opportunities for creativity afforded to us by the unrestricted digital environment will be squashed, and companies like Sony may be allowed to use DRM technology to invade our privacy. If you’ve ever downloaded something from Torrents, ripped an album onto your iPod, or made a mix CD in attempt to woo someone, then copyright concerns you. Here’s how to get in touch with Bev Oda: Hon. Bev Oda 68 King Street East Bowmanville, Ontario LIC 3X2 Telephone: (905). 697-.1699 Fax: (905). 697-.1678 Email: Oda.B@parl.ge.ca Win $2500. www.campusresearch.ca Seriously. Fine print: Prizes: One $2500 grand prize, one $1500 second prize, one $1000 third prize and twelve $250 extra prizes. Sontest is only open to students currently enrolled at a Canadian post-secondary institution. The good news is it’s available for a very limited time, so your odds of winning are awesome. This survey is sponsored by your campus newspaper and Campus Plus, a division of Canadian University Press. 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