Every personal copy of Ubuntu gives the recording industry 29 cents

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Most Canadians should know about the CPCC's levy on recording media (in Canada. Sorry, bad thread title. I should go into sensationalist journalism). It is always difficult to argue exactly what is immoral about this, since it could be compared to the idea that everyone chips in a bit to help out instead of a small group of people being charged ridiculous amounts of money. Makes sense for health care, since everyone benefits from that; indeed, we all have bodies. (Although I wonder if that will hold true if those other intelligent primates start being welcomed into society with different medical needs). Similarly, everyone likes processed music, right?
It can also be argued that the 29 cent levy is actually charged to the distributor, not the consumer.

Thus, the matter is somewhat ignored.

However, I realized recently that over the last year I have used over 200 CD-Rs. None of those disks have held music. Each and every one of those disks was bought in Canada and I am aware that 29 cents of what I paid for each disk went to the CPCC. This means I have unwillingly donated $58 to the proprietary, DRM-loving end of the music industry by distributing free software on a standard, universal distribution media.

So I wrote the CPCC this nice little letter in the hope that they'll help me out:

My apologies if this query has been answered somewhere. I tried a few web searches, and I poked around cpcc.ca, but I could not find an answer.

I am a supporter of the free software movement, and as a result I often burn free software to CD-Rs. For example, I burn installers for the Fedora or Ubuntu Linux distributions and hand them out to other people. Feel free to check out those projects to be sure that this use of the content in question is in fact encouraged by its copyright holders, and infringes on nobody's wishes. Free software is a sign of the time. We have developed technology to the point that rich content and functionality can be duplicated and transmitted at very little cost, which rules out the need for a lot of existing infrastructure and can make our society more environmentally friendly. I believe that our music industry needs to adapt to how today's technology works. I do not want to encourage their troublesome attempts to hold back that innovation and cripple its capabilities.

The levy being collected by your organization, in its current incarnation, is going completely against my wishes. With 29 cents for every recordable CD I buy, this levy is encouraging the private recording industry to do exactly what I do not want them to do. They are profiting on physical media, unnecessarily long chains of distribution and on centralization. I have purchased over 200 CD-Rs in recent memory, and I have used absolutely none of them for music content. This means that your organization has directed my $58 to the wrong group! In fact, it goes to the same kind of organization which is encouraging other legislation that may cripple the growth of free software, for example by limiting peer to peer protocols such as BitTorrent.
In short, the current situation is not fair because people such as myself rely on CD-Rs as universal recordable media.

Is there an avenue by which the CPCC can direct my money to the appropriate organizations instead of arbitrarily sending it to ones which I am opposed to? For example, I would appreciate if groups like the Linux Foundation, the GNOME project or the Canonical Foundation were sent a portion of that money. It could be argued that this is slightly out of scope since my duplicating Ubuntu Linux is in fact expressly encouraged, but on that same thought I am using the disk (and its 29 cent levy) to Not duplicate copyrighted music, which is also expressly encouraged. The money has to go somewhere, and the former feels a tad more acceptable.

Otherwise, I would love to know why this cannot happen so that I can discuss this matter with the appropriate group.


Thank you in advance,
(and happy holidays!)

Maybe I should send them all my coasters and ask for a refund, too.

[sydbat]

That is awesome! I laughed so hard, I had to change my underwear...

Let us know if you get a response and if I can send my coasters for a refund too!

[phrostbyte]

I don't know if you are being sarcastic, but I agree with you letter. It's a bit obnoxious to assume all CDs are being used to copy music.

I'm curious on how these funds get distributed too.

[toupeiro]

Well said!

[oldsoundguy]

RIAA/MPAA must have some serious pull in Canada! (or this is a bogus story!) ... I just bought Imation CD/r's for a dime each in a 100 spindle and Imation single layer DVD/r's for 20 cents each on a 50 spindle at Office Depot. (sale ended in December).
You can get them for more on eBay but for less than 39 cents each including shipping if you shop judiciously!

[I-75]

RIAA/MPAA must have some serious pull in Canada! (or this is a bogus story!) ... I just bought Imation CD/r's for a dime each in a 100 spindle and Imation single layer DVD/r's for 20 cents each on a 50 spindle at Office Depot. (sale ended in December).
You can get them for more on eBay but for less than 39 cents each including shipping if you shop judiciously!

I don't think the RIAA/MPAA has any jurisdiction in Canada...

[tact]

I don't know if you are being sarcastic, but I agree with you letter. It's a bit obnoxious to assume all CDs are being used to copy music.

I have bought hundreds or thousands of recordable DVD/CD's and at most used maybe 2 to store music (ripping tunes from legally bought cds to MP3 then burning the MP3's back to CD so that I can carry several hundreds of songs on just a couple CDs... good for long distance road trips... no need to carry dozens of original CD albums).

Fortunately I don't live in Canada so don't face that tax.

I would think the majority of people these days keep their music stored on HDD etc... rarely burn back to CD. So having a music industry "tax" on every blank CD is nuts.

Cheers

[cariboo]

The reason for the levy is why it is still legal to download music and burn it to a cd for personal use here in Canada. If I need cd-r's I usually wait until the are on sale at Staples, the usual sale price is about $15.00CDN for a 100 disk spindle.

Jim

[phrostbyte]

I think DVD-R don't actually have a tax. So are DVD-R cheaper in Canada then CD-R? You know you easily burn Ubuntu onto a DVD-R.

[sydbat]

The reason for the levy is why it is still legal to download music and burn it to a cd for personal use here in Canada. If I need cd-r's I usually wait until the are on sale at Staples, the usual sale price is about $15.00CDN for a 100 disk spindle.

Jim

$15!! That is slightly higher than the $6-8 I pay at Memory Express.

And you are correct...this is why it is legal to download/share music in Canada (as upheld by the Supreme Court). I am so glad we live in a free/non-repressive country.