open letter to the editor on “The (legal) music fades out for Canadians”
In “The (legal) music fades out for Canadians“, Barrie McKenna repeats a number of American recording industry talking-points, and ignores the depth and breadth of the copyright reform debate in Canada.
McKenna makes a number of misleading claims. To address some of them: Canada’s copyright isn’t out of step with the Western world, but is fully compliant with Berne; Isohunt is involved in a lawsuit with the CRIA, but it was Isohunt that first sued CRIA for a declaratory judgment; the music industry contributes far less to Canadian GDP than does the technology industry; and, there is tremendous growth in Canadian digital distribution.
Much has changed since copyright was first created, but blindly passing legislation to improve the short-term revenues of American companies isn’t in the long-term best interest of either Canadian culture or the Canadian economy. McKenna writes that there “are good reasons for Canada to embrace reform” and in this he is correct. However, any reform should listen to Canadian citizens, be designed for the long-term benefit of our culture, and ultimately keep in mind the utilitarian goal of maximizing the public good.
Thanks go to Techdirt for bringing attention to the original article.
Edit: An interesting (and not constrained to 200 words) response to the G&M article by Tom Koltai on Perceptric Forum.