SOCAN has applied to the Copyright Board for an interim tariff to cover royalties for the communication to the public by telecommunication of musical works in connection with movie/tv streaming and user generated content sites:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5861/125/
Quote:
The first (Tariff 22D) applies to services that offer streaming or downloadable movies or television programs. It cites Netflix, Apple TV, as well as Sony's Crackle and Qriocity as examples. The proposal raises payment schemes for subscription sites, pay-per-view sites, and ad-supported sites, all of which come in around 1.9% of gross revenues (there is a more complex model for ad-supported sites). This could lead to significant money as Netflix alone appears headed to generate at least $50 million in revenues in Canada this year, resulting in a SOCAN payment of nearly $1 million/year.
The second tariff (Tariff 22G) covers user generated content sites, but might as well be called the YouTube tariff since it is the obvious target (Facebook is a close second). SOCAN establishes a formula for payment that starts at 6.8 percent of ad revenue for music videos and 1.9 percent of ad revenues for other audiovisual content with music. How much is at stake? Given that some estimates put YouTube revenues in the billions, the Canadian slice could be significant.
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So whenever you wonder why services like the iTunes Music Store or Netflix take so long to become available in Canada or why things like Pandora and iCloud aren't available in Canada at all, you can cite this kind of thinking as one of the biggest barriers to entry. I don't think it's unfair to expect companies that earn profits in Canada from the works of copyright holders to pay a fair sum, but the process that's in place seems arbitrary and out of line with reality. It remains expensive and complicated to offer your services in Canada so many companies, as we all know, don't bother. Thank you SOCAN. Thank you CRIA.