8 Days of Tariff 8: One Year Later…
It took the Copyright Board six years to come to the Tariff 8 decision. In the past year, the Board was without a chair, meaning that without quorum they were unable to move forward on issues of critical importance to Canada’s economy. Even with a newly-appointed chair, the Board itself is in desperate need of reform.
Because all decisions are already heard and determined retroactively (for instance, Tariff 8 applies to the years 2009-12), the lack of movement in the past year has resulted in even more time and uncertainty added to the Copyright Board’s processes. The average pending tariff has been outstanding with the Copyright Board for 5.3 years since filing.
Last year, alongside our 75+ music industry partners, we pointed out that “the Board’s decision comes as a result of an inherently flawed system that lacks clear criteria for rate-setting and allows the Board to reject market rates…it is clear that a legislative framework that ignores the reality of the marketplace is one that will continue to harm the business climate and create market uncertainty, delaying the entry of new services into the Canadian marketplace.”
Help raise awareness about the disastrous effects of the Copyright Board of Canada’s Tariff 8 decision by retweeting the image below:
1 year ago, the Copyright Board set one of the world’s worst royalty rates for streaming music http://t.co/qQRPzMJXjo pic.twitter.com/EaFYSSUNom
— Music Canada (@Music_Canada) June 17, 2015
