Categories: The Bull Meter

The Bull Meter: The Conservatives on the Liberals' 'iPod tax'

The basis for the Conservative party’s claim is that Liberal members of the House…

by Erica Alini on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 7:33pm - 46 Comments
CPC attack ad
"Ignatieff voted for an iPod tax of up to $75"
- Conservative attack ad
April 3, 2011

Bull Meter score:

The basis for the Conservative party’s claim is that Liberal members of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage voted in March of last year to extend a levy Canadians already pay on blank audiocassettes and blank CDs to MP3 players. The committee was voting on proposed amendments to the Copyright Act [not the government’s copyright legislation, as stated in an earlier version of this post]. The purpose of the digital media levy was to ensure that Canadian artists receive compensation when people use MP3s to copy their songs and music.

Pressed for details, a Conservative spokesperson told us via email that  “[according to] previous proposals from the Copyright Board, the iPod tax would increase the cost of the typical iPod or MP3 player by between $25 to $75 depending on how much storage space the device contains.” The reference is to the Copyright Board of Canada, which is in charge of fixing the amounts for such levies.

The claim a $75 levy was ever on the table—and that it was supported by the Liberals—is dubious for two reasons: first, contrary to Conservative claims, the Copyright Board never suggested the levy should be up to $75. That amount was proposed by a non-profit called the Canadian Private Copying Collective, which collects and distributes private copying royalties. But while they may not be the ones who collect it, it’s the Copyright Board that fixes levies on MP3 players, such as the ones that were in place until a December 2004 Federal Court decision struck them down. These ranged from $2 to $25.

Secondly, the Liberals changed their policy on taxing digital audio devices in December and have explicitly rejected the notion of an “iPod levy.” They now support compensating artists with a yearly transfer of $35 million.

Heard something that doesn’t sound quite right? Send quotes from the campaign trail to macbullmeter@gmail.com and we’ll tell you just how much bull they contain.

Sources:

Conservative attack ad

Record of voting by the Committee on Canadian Heritage on extending the private copying levy to digital music recorders

Levies proposed by the Canadian Private Copying Collective on digital music recorders

Levies certified by the Copyright Board of Canada on digital music recorders

The new Liberal position on the copying levy

Copyright Bill C-32

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  • Olivier

    You know what should be done?

    A bunch of people get together and by airwave time to debunk all the phony election TV ads (be they Liberal or Conservative).

    Is that even doable?

    • John_Edgar

      Why bother? I really don't understand the point of political ads, I realize many people claim they work and I have no evidence to dispute that. However every single ad I hear or see just makes me want to punch whoever is making it in the face be they Harper, Ignatieff or Layton.

      • Jenn_

        Hey, are you really my hubby using an assumed name? It's the "I just want to punch them all in the face" direct quote I've heard on numerous occasions. :)

        • John_Edgar

          No, but I'm glad to hear that someone else feels like that :)

  • Joshua

    I remember that day very well when they voted to put the Tax on the Ipod's and MP's. What, is Iggy so old now he can't remember it.??

    • Gayle

      Um Josh? Maybe you should read the article so you don't look like you didn't read the article.

      Or maybe you were paid for this comment?

  • KeithBram

    Harper was absent for 82… that's "always there"?

    Troll…

    • Jan

      It is understandable – when he's not running Canada, he's King of the World.

      • craigola

        Or else he's in the bathroom.

  • Jan

    They're paid by the word – we may need to take up a collection for him.

  • Eo Nomine

    Consequently, the Committee's recommendation went before the House in April. There all the opposition parties, including the Liberals, voted in favour of it, while the Conservatives voted against it. This vote is what the Conservatives cite to in the ad.

    After C-32 was introduced, the issue of the iPod levy became politicized, with the Bloc and the NDP coming out strongly in favour of it (and decrying the fact it hadn't been included in C-32) and the Conservatives coming out strongly against. Initially, the Liberals were ambiguous on the levy, with some MPs suggesting they supported with while other suggesting they were opposed. The Conservatives seized upon this ambiguity and argued that the Liberals supported the iPod levy, pointing to several votes in favour as evidence. In response, the Liberals issued a statement coming out firmly against the levy (instead proposing that a fund from general revenue be set up to compensate musical artists for revenue lost due to the failure to extend the levy to devices). The have maintained this position ever since.

    So, while the Liberals have come out against the levy, the history of this is far more ambiguous than your article suggests.

    • TwoYen

      I used to work on this issue when I was a lobbyist in Ottawa and Eo Nomine's version is accuratre.

      The Liberals have a long history of supporting the levy on iPods and other devices going back to when Sheila Copps was Heritage Minister.

      • http://halooverride.blogspot.com/ Halo_Override

        You probably shouldn't answer the door for a few weeks. History has shown what happens to the truth-speakers.

      • Erica Alini

        Eo Nomine, TwoYen,

        Thank you for pointing this out, and helping to keep the post bull-free. We've edited accordingly.

        Erica

  • Diogenes54

    When I first heard this clip back in December, I couldn't believe my ears. I figured it was so over the top on the BS meter that it would have a short shelf life – kind of like the Harpers proposed lyric amendment to the national anthem.

    http://www.conservative.ca/media/20101216-iPodTax…
    http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/12/20/you-see-kids-f…

    But I was wrong.

    So what does it take to get a 5 bull rating here? A claim that Ignatieff is actually Osama Bin Laden?

  • Pugs

    How's about the "starving artists" suck it up and go get a real job instead of stealing my "levy/tax" money (it's a tax you idiot, go back to school) to supplement their life. Since when did trying to pretend to be a pop star become a career choice. A real artist hones his craft whether or not he gets paid or can even eke out a living. If you want a career stay in school. And by the by I spent more than ten years of my life making a living playing music and writing songs so I have a little experience. Not once was I compensated other than the odd royalty cheque.

    • http://halooverride.blogspot.com/ Halo_Override

      Maybe you weren't very good.

      • Pugs

        LOL! Obviously haha. Or maybe we were pretty good but got lost with the other thousands of rock stars roaming TO looking for a break.

        • http://halooverride.blogspot.com/ Halo_Override

          As musicians, it's crucially important for us to retain a sense of humor about ourselves.

    • LoveMusic

      Like working in a gas station? greeter at WalMart? Steve Harper's dresser/astrologer/soothsayer? Tele-evangelist/purple prayer hankie huckster? You mean a real job like that?

      Sheesh!

      • LoveMusic

        Sorry — I don't mean this as a put down to all those work in the services industry. What I say still goes for the astrologer/tele-evangelist industries. I get all gnarly and cranky when people babble on about getting a "real job."

        • WaterlooAl

          I really thnk political ads should be screened for accuracy. There is a commercial on right now regarding a teenage girl leaving the house through the window, and when her father comes in there are two guys that try to distract him. I think of Harper everytime.

        • Pugs

          Well I never tried televangelism but I did a couple of those other things. What I mean is that you either try to make a living at it or you don't. If you can't then get a job to subsidize your music making. Don't rely on handouts to do it.

    • Thwim

      And of course the really sad thing is that the starving artists don't actually get very much from the levy at all. It gets apportioned out based on sales, supposedly on the notion that someone who sells more is going to be copied more.

      Which means that the artists who are supposed to get the bulk of the levy are those who don't need it.

      I say supposed to because last time I remember there was an additional wrinkle in that the group hadn't actually given out any of the money they'd collected. They were just sitting on it and paying their own salaries.

      • Rob Shift

        And of course the really sad thing is that the starving artists don't actually get very much from the levy at all. It gets apportioned out based on sales, supposedly on the notion that someone who sells more is going to be copied more.

        I don't think that there's any supposedly about it. As the One Soul Thrust example shows, if no one knows about you, no one will pirate your works.

  • gottabesaid

    I don't run the Bull-Meter machine, but… congrats, five bulls.

  • Jackie

    How the Liberals Arrived at their "Platform"
    LIBERALS & THEIR RED BOOK….(& what they are not telling you)…
    I saw something fair & balanced last night on CBC. Yes, fair & balanced on CBC. Difficult to believe isn't it!

    The piece was by Amanda Lang of the show “Lang & O'Leary” which discusses all matters financial in the World & was featured on "The National" (April 15/2011).

    Amanda discussed the Liberal's new "Red Book" on its plans for Canada's financial future. She showed many, many instances where the Liberals did not assign any spending to the first year of its plans. She thought this odd. So she looked through the Conservative's budget that the Liberals & NDP thought too bad to pass. & what did she find? Well there were gaps of 100, 200, 300, & 400 million dollars and these were given a zero rating by the Liberals because the…. “Conservatives had already committed the money in their budget.” Or in simple terms, they were fudging the numbers & claiming credit for something the Conservatives had done.

  • madeyoulook

    At the very least I think that everyone who owns an iPod would feel entirely morally justified in that scenario to AT LEAST pirate $75 worth of music.

    Downlaod ALL modern popular music and you STILL would not have maxed out your seventy-five bucks…

    • LdKitchenersOwn

      How are you defining "modern"? (For that matter, how are you defining "popular"?).

      I think 99 cents is perfectly reasonable for a song, so starting my collection from scratch I'd personally burn through at least half of that $75 before I even bought anything outside of the Beatles' catalogue.

      • madeyoulook

        I was talking worth, not price.

        • LdKitchenersOwn

          I get that, but I think most songs I want are worth $1 to me, and I think I could EASILY spend $75 on "modern popular music" and feel that it was entirely "worth it".

          I know this because I'm almost certain that I've spent $75 on music in the last 6 months or so, and I don't think I got ripped off at all. I definitely think "Yesterday" or "Hey Jude" is worth as much to me as a Snickers bar.

  • Rob Shift

    I think that you would have a hard time arguing that point. As a general rule, the most pirated works are almost always the most popular. The vast majority of people pay for content, even among pirates.

    • theintellectual

      Somehow i think Usher or Rihana would be getting much more money from something like that then say, Airbourne or Soundgarden.

  • auntie-em-m

    Hope you were paid for that remark, Jameshalifax.
    You give a perfectly nice city a bad name. Troll.

  • Jameshalifax

    Iggy left in 1969…………and what did Canada look like then?

    Treaduemania was still around….
    Hippies and deadbeats were everywhere……
    free love…..
    8-track tape players were the most advanced musical format….

    Why should anyone be surprised Iggy's idea of Canada is stuck in that time period. That is the only Canada he remembers.
    And that explains his platform.

  • Riley Robertson

    You should see the new Con ad — stolen from the Tea Party. Looks like a bad piece of KGB propaganda. Utterly laughable.

  • Eo Nomine

    "The committee was voting on proposed amendments to the government’s copyright legislation, Bill C-32, which died on the order paper."

    While I agree that the Conservative ad does not reflect the Liberal's position on the iPod levy, I'm afraid the recounting of the history of the levy in this article is simply wrong.

    The matter voted on at the Heritage Committee was a motion put forward by the Bloc recommending that Part VIII of the Copyright Act (pertaining to the private copying of sound recordings in musical works) be extended to devices. This was months before C-32 was introduced and had nothing to do with that Bill.

    All opposition members of the Committee voted in favour of the motion, including the Liberal members. The Conservative members voted against. Gary Schellenberger, the Conservative chair, broke the tie by voting in favour of the motion. …

  • gottabesaid

    As an aside, whether you liked the extra $75 on the iPod or not, can you really call it a 'tax', or even a 'levy?' Maybe it's just me, but when I think of being taxed, I think of me paying money to the government, for use by the government. This money was intended to "ensure that Canadian artists receive compensation when people use MP3s to copy their songs and music." The money wasn't going to go toward paying for social programs or fighter planes or what have you — that's what TAX revenue is for. I get the Conservatives want to paint the Liberals as all 'tax and spend', but this particular 'tax' doesn't legitimately fit that mold. Not even close.

    Whether the Liberals were in favour of such a thing or not, trying to suggest that they wanted to slap this charge on the iPods as a tax, like the Liberals were trying to gouge consumers just to add money to government coffers or something, is bullsh*t. Bust-the-meter bullsh*t.

  • sourstud

    Well, if it wasn't a tax or a levy, what would you call it? And can we at least agree that it was a bad idea?

  • Mike T.

    Thsi very question was dealt with in some detail when the issue was at the Federal Court in 2004. In fact, the reason the copyright board couldn't origianlly put it in place was because it was a tax not a regulatory charge and therefore had to be initiated by lawmakers.

    If you search Michael Geist's homepage going back to that year, he'll probably provide a link to it.

  • dave

    It's a User Fee, and we all know User Fee's aren't taxes.

  • gottabesaid

    To be honest, I don't know enough about it to have much opinion whether it's a good idea or a bad idea… and, as the above article points out, the details of it were nebulous to begin with. However, the problem is the fact that people are using their iPods to listen to music they've obtained without paying for it. So, the people who made the product (the music) aren't being paid for their work. I know that's not good. The Liberals' current idea is that we reimburse artists out of general revenue. Now, should everybody pay because people are stealing music? Or, can we try target the offending group (the bad apples among MP3 player-owners) by putting an extra charge on MP3 players, money that will be used to compensate artists? (Apparently, according to the above story, there already IS a charge… how did PMSH let THAT one slip through under his watch?) Do we worry about compensating artists at all, and just let people steal their music? I don't know the answer to those questions, but I do know the issue has nothing to do with how 'tax and spend' the Liberals are, assuming the Liberals had anything to do with the idea in the first place.

  • Guest #1

    "They now support compensating artists with a yearly transfer of $35 million."
    I wonder how this would relate to sales of i-pods(ect). If we 'have' to compensate artists I would rather it be a user pay (ipod tax) system.

  • theintellectual

    I just have to ask: WHICH artists are being compensated?

  • Sally

    Thanks. My laugh out loud of the day

  • Cal

    Did you hear the one about the ipod and the $75 tax?

    What do you think tomorrows Conservative lie or scandal will be?

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