As we wrap up our 8 Days of Tariff 8 campaign, we call for reform of the Copyright Board. We are asking the Government to make regulatory changes that determine which factors are taken into consideration on Board decisions, including market rates, international comparisons, or commercially negotiated agreements.

Our Recommendations:

1. We call on the Government to make regulatory changes to the Copyright Board on which factors are taken into consideration on Board decisions, including market rates, international comparisons, or commercially negotiated agreements.
2. Continue larger discussions on how the Board’s procedures can be made more productive, how the Board can be transformed to serve Canadian businesses, and how creators can realize the value of their works through fair tariffs
3. Create a clearer understanding of criteria beyond ensuring that Copyright Board decisions are indeed “fair” and push for rates that are an international standard.

Thank you for your support over the last 8 days. The fight’s not over. We urge you to use the tool below to send an email to newly-appointed Copyright Board chair Justice Robert A. Blair, urging him to facilitate the prosperity of Canadian cultural businesses rather than impede it by recognizing the value of the Canadian music industry for all Canadians.

We believe the Tariff 8 decision set a dangerous precedent in Canada for streaming rates on music streaming services.

There are three ways in which this decision negatively impacts the Canadian music industry:

• Tariff 8 is bad for Canadian artists, who receive 10% of the streaming royalties from semi-interactive services as their American counterparts. This means that Canadian artists are paid 90% less than what other artists on similar services outside of the country are paid.
• Tariff 8 is bad for international artists, who receive less royalties when their work is played on Canadian semi-interactive streaming services. This could lead to international artists refusing to have their music used on these services, potentially limiting content to Canadians.
• Tariff 8 is bad for the economy because it shows just how unpredictable the Copyright Board is. It created a regulatory precedent that ignores the reality of the marketplace and will continue to harm the business climate and create a market of uncertainty. This may dissuade new services from entering the Canadian market, which means less choice for consumers.

Stand with us and join the conversation at #IStandForMusic.

Tariff 8 is a lose / lose / lose: it’s bad for Canadian artists, int’l artists, & the economy: http://t.co/NfoSied5ae pic.twitter.com/k2m4NbluPA

— Music Canada (@Music_Canada) June 23, 2015

Can you imagine being in a profession where your U.S. counterpart made 90% more than what you make for the same job? With Tariff 8, the Copyright Board of Canada decided that professional musicians should be paid 90% less for certain types of music streaming.

Some people may argue that Tariff 8 isn’t an artist’s only source of income. But the reality is that for these types of services (CBC Music, Stingray, Songza, etc.), Tariff 8 royalties are the only guaranteed source of income for a performer.  Artists deserve to be fairly compensated for their music. The Tariff 8 decision sends a message that music is not valued as a profession here, and this message is completely inconsistent with Canadian values.

In last year’s The Rambler by Graham Henderson: Tariff 8 decision establishes “10% of Nothing Rates”, Music Canada President poses the rhetorical question:  “Do Canadian plumbers get paid wages equivalent to 10% of American plumbers? Teachers? Auto workers? Farmers? Who? What profession receives compensation in Canada for their labour that is equal to 10% of the wages paid across the border?”

If you think Canadian artists should be fairly compensated, share this image with the #IStandForMusic tag.

Through Tariff 8, the Copyright Board of Canada has shown it doesn’t value Canadian musicians: http://t.co/vNHYvkfMYW pic.twitter.com/ImbBV3H52G

— Music Canada (@Music_Canada) June 22, 2015

The Copyright Board claims to operate on a “fairness principle” but has made a decision that is inherently unfair to Canadian artists, and does not take into account the differences between web and terrestrial radio, on which they based the Tariff 8 rates. This decision has created a regulatory precedent and decision that ignores the reality of the marketplace and will continue to harm the business climate and create a market uncertainty.

We believe that if the Copyright Board of Canada wanted to embody a ‘fair’ approach, it would not have discarded existing market rates at which digital music service providers had been operating in Canada. In fact, Tariff 8 discarded years of agreements freely negotiated between digital music service providers and the music industry, setting the rates for webstreaming in Canada at 10% of the rates that the same services pay in the United States and many other countries.

Help raise awareness about the disastrous effects of the Copyright Board of Canada’s Tariff 8 decision by retweeting the image below:

8 Days of Tariff 8: What’s the Copyright Board of Canada’s definition of fair? http://t.co/wjwYDrhOTU #IStandForMusic pic.twitter.com/1e3QcZo4UO

— Music Canada (@Music_Canada) June 19, 2015

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When you break Tariff 8 down into real numbers, it’s terrible for musicians. On the occasion of #ThrowBackThursday, we look back at our attempt to make cents of Tariff 8. Last year, we used the Barenaked Ladies classic “If I Had a Million Dollars” to show just how many streams they would need to buy the items in the song at the rate determined by Tariff 8. As you can see, it’s pretty abysmal.

Here’s how many plays an artist would need to buy some of the other items mentioned in the song:

“If I had a million dollars… ” / 1 million dollars = 9.8 billion plays

“I’d buy you a house…” / Average price of a single home in Canada: $413,215 = More than 4 billion plays

“I’d buy you furniture for your house, (Maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)” / Nice sofa = 16 million plays, matching ottoman = almost 5 million plays

“I’d buy you a fur coat (but not a real fur coat that’s cruel)” / Faux Fur Coat = 17 million plays

“I’d buy you an exotic pet (Like a llama or an emu)” / Llama = almost 3 million plays

“We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner. (But we would eat Kraft Dinner. Of course we would, we’d just eat more.)” / Kraft Dinner = 9216 plays for a box of KD

“I’d buy you a green dress (but not a real green dress, that’s cruel)” / A real green dress (that’s cruel!) = almost 16 million plays

“I’d buy you some art (a Picasso or a Garfunkel)” / Picasso recently sold at Sotheby’s for $6.5 million CAD = almost 64 billion plays

 “I’d buy you a monkey (haven’t you always wanted a monkey?)” / (It is illegal to own a monkey in Toronto.)

 “I’d be rich.” / With royalties from the Tariff 8 decision, you would not be rich.

How does Tariff 8 affect you? Use our Tariff 8 Royalty Calculator to learn how much the Copyright Board of Canada thinks you deserve to be paid for your music.

Help raise awareness about the disastrous effects of the Copyright Board of Canada’s Tariff 8 decision by retweeting the image below:

When you break Tariff 8 down into real numbers, it’s terrible for musicians: http://t.co/aJHiKEqfc9 #IStandForMusic pic.twitter.com/d3HLChTUQr

— Music Canada (@Music_Canada) June 18, 2015

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