Canadian Private Copying Collective

Stand on Guard for Canada’s Music

Canada’s creators and music companies are missing out on payment for a massive use of their work.

You may think that nobody makes copies of music anymore, because we’re all just streaming now. Our research shows that this couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that Canadians still make billions of copies of their music collections, for listening offline. What has changed is simply that those private copies aren’t on cassette tapes, they’re on phones and tablets. And guess what? Only half of those copies are paid for through licensed music services. 

How we copy music keeps changing, how rights-holders get paid has to keep up.

As the country grapples with a global pandemic, it has never been more important for recording artists, composers, songwriters, music publishers and labels to be able to earn income from their creative output. Copyright is how these creators and music companies get paid, so a technologically-neutral Copyright Act is more essential than ever to a music industry faced with re-building.

Royalties for unlicensed private copies have plummeted from $38 million per year to just $1.1 million in 2019, because the private copying regime has been limited to copies on recordable CDs since 2008. That means no royalties for the billions of unlicensed private copies on phones and tablets. The Copyright Act has not kept pace with technology, leaving rights-holders unpaid. Shouldn’t every copy count?

The time for change is now. Right now, the Government is reviewing copyright reform legislation to be tabled imminently, acting on what they heard in the recent Parliamentary Review of copyright. We need your help to ensure that private copying reform is high on their agenda.

Let Minister Guilbeault, Minister Champagne, and your local MP know that you want to see a tech-neutral private  copying regime to protect the rights and livelihoods of our creators and all their partners in Canada’s recorded music industry.

Please enter a postal code to continue.

Dear Minister and My Member of Parliament

Sincerely,

This campaign is hosted by the Canadian Private Copying Collective. We will protect your privacy, and keep you informed about this campaign and others.

Cette campagne est parrainée par la Société canadienne de perception de la copie privée. Nous protégerons vos informations et vous tiendrons informé de cette campagne et toutes autres.