Digital Copyright Canada

Billy Bragg and MP Charlie Angus (New Democratic Party) Parliament of Canada Press Conference November 20, 2009 with Safwan Javad (Canadian Musicians Creators Coalition), Don Quarles (Canadian Songwriters Association) on the creation of digital copyright policies that ensures artists get paid and pushes back against the corporate war against fans.

Link to YouTube

In yesterday's article, as well as my submission to the consultation, I suggested that the recording industry is like the tail trying to wag the dog in the copyright consultation. The recording industry represents one of three copyright holding groups in a larger music industry made up of composers, performers, and "makers" of sound recordings. While this group dominated the music industry in the past, modern technology will inevitably cause a restructuring of the music industry such that they will be the smallest of the three.

Contrary to recording industry claims, it is my belief that even if there wasn't a single unauthorized music file shared that the recording industry would be seeing a nearly identical decline.

>>> Read full article on ITWorldCanada's blog.

Gordon Duggan at Appropriation Art has published a comic (PDF) about Canadian Copyright revision. It is a classic battle of good vs. evil of comic proportions where the "Evil Emissaries of American Interests try to suppress the Fantastic Freedom of Expression Fighters".

The cast of characters is somehow familiar.

Evil Emissaries (Or just misinformed?): Harper, Bush, Prentice, Henderson, McTeague, Wilkins, Feinstein / Cronyn, Schwarzenegger, Glickman, Frith, Oda

Fantastic Freedom Fighters: Angus, Doctorow, Geist, Knopf, Murray, Page, McOrmond

A CBC article has an interesting idea from ACTRA

The union for Canada's English-language performers is fuming over the government's decision to delay copyright reform legislation, demanding Minister of Industry Jim Prentice to "do the right thing" and ignore the protests of a "vocal minority.

Given the opponents to WIPO Internet treaty ratification include many high profile ACTRA members, exactly which group is a "vocal minority" -- those groups fearful of modern technology (and thus support the WIPO Internet treaties), or those groups who see modern technology being in the hands of independent creators and other private citizens as an asset?

It is sad that an increasing number of creators have to work outside of their traditional "support" organizations in order to get their views heard on critical questions around Copyright. Creators should be watching their associations very closely to ensure that they aren't pushing policy that ends up greatly harming the interests of creators (such as supporting anti-circumvention legislation)!