Copyright License Fees Drive Pandora Out of Canada

An anonymous reader writes "Online streaming music services such as Pandora are abandoning plans to launch in Canada, claiming licensing fees are too high: 'These rates ... are astronomical,' Tim Westergren, founder of California-based Pandora, wrote in an email to The Canadian Press. The agency that collects music royalties in Canada on behalf of record companies and performing artists wants to charge web-based music sites that stream to mobile devices the greater of two figures: 45 per cent of the site's gross revenues in Canada or 7.5-tenths of a cent for every song streamed. Meanwhile, record labels are blaming the lack of online music services in Canada on piracy: 'Why would you spend a lot of money trying to build a service in Canada when Canadians take so much without paying for it?' said Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which represents major record labels."

Rdio works

[Quaelin]

I'm happily streaming music from Rdio [rdio.com] for $4.99/mo in Canada. I recommend it.

Henderson is a liar

[starfishsystems]

"Why would you spend a lot of money trying to build a service in Canada when Canadians take so much without paying for it?" said Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which represents major record labels.

Somebody please tell Mr. Henderson to take his head out of his ass. The fact, as he well knows, is that Canadians already pay hefty fees. We already pay for recorded music at a rate far in excess of the cost of distribution. Radio stations already pay royalty fees. And everyone already pays a surcharge on recording media and players so that we can be legally entitled to generate copies for personal use.

How did this media surcharge come about? Because Mr. Henderson's own organization, the CRIA, successfully lobbied for it! [arstechnica.com] That's right. They insisted that Canadians must pay a surcharge in order to legally record music. And so we have been doing, ever since the late 1990s.

Mr. Henderson finds this convenient to forget, but the rest of us have not forgotten. Even those of us who do no music copying at all have already paid in full for entitlement to copy.

Re:Rdio works

[Machtyn]

But that costs you $4.99/mo. Pandora's service is "free", non-gratis. They get paid through adverts sent with the music. Every song I stream on my blackberry is free to me minus the cost of the very non-intrusive ad they display. I don't know what they get per advert displayed (can someone enlighten us?) it possibly isn't $0.0075 per song for which the CRIA is asking for.

CRIA... CRIA me a freaking river?

Re:Henderson is a liar

[SweeBeeps]

It's par for the course to see that a recording industry exec is completely out of touch with reality.

Say I listen 40 hours a week...

[archer, the]

20 songs per hour, 52 weeks a year.

40*20*52 = 41600.

At the latter rate, that is 41600 * 0.0075 = $312.

And that's before Pandora's own expenses, such as bandwidth and payroll.

Re:Henderson is a liar

[Cruciform]

I rarely pick up new music these days. I'd rather listen to a podcast or open university course.
But when I do grab something, I'm torrenting it. If I have to pay a piracy fee to use media or hardware, then might as well make the piracy fee earn its keep.
But I don't pirate software. As far as I know, I'm not taxed by software companies every time I've bought storage media.

Re:What about indie labels?

[Machtyn]

I don't know about Canada, but in the USA online streaming music services still have to pay a holding company for the right to play the indie music... whether the indie music in question belong to a RIAA joined company or not. I don't have the reference at the moment.

Re:Rdio works

[commodore64_love]

I'm happily streaming music from http://player.radio.com/player/RadioPlayer.php?version=1.1.9780&station=13987 [radio.com]

for $0.00/mo and not even any commercials. I recommend it. In fact most of the HD2s are free and commercial free. (Click Music and Cities for the full list.)

Re:Rdio works

[Machtyn]

I'm using the Blackberry client on the Sprint network. I only get a little text advert that fills up a third of the screen real estate. I usually don't even see it. Occassionally, like once every couple of days, there is a 15-30 second audio advert for the service.

When I'm at home and have the website up, I've never noticed any adverts. The one annoying thing is that it will stop playing after 30+ minutes to ask you if you are still there. -click the Yes button and I'm off again-

Re:Heh

[mlts]

I have a good amount of iTMS bought stuff (just because it is easy to grab a band's new release while at work.) The only DRM on the tracks is the fact that they are stamped with the account ID they are bought under.

Some people might call AAC DRM, but most "MP3" players are able to play this format these days. Most of the Sansa players can play AAC formatted files, Zunes can, most Android phones are able to play this format.

Now, if you are talking video, or iTunes in some other countries which still is FairPlay encumbered, I'd agree with you. However, here in the US (and likely in Canada), music tracks purchased on iTMS are free and clear.

Re:Henderson is a liar

[innocent_white_lamb]

copyright material on it, just my family photos.
br>I think you'll find that your family photos are indeed under copyright. Yours.

Re:Rdio works

[tixxit]

I'm happily streaming music from Last.fm [last.fm] for $3/m in Canada. I recommend it too.