The Songwriters Association of Canada (or, S.A.C.), “a friendly community of songwriters" which “advocate[s] on behalf of songwriters to protect the value of our work," has worked out a proposal that could turn the Canadian music industry on its head.
According to the Montreal Gazette, S.A.C. president Eddie Schwartz is in talks with various Internet service providers about granting licenses to customers who share music in a non-commercial way.
On the surface, there is a lot to like about the proposal. Excerpts below:
- Private individuals and households who wish to music file-share would be licensed to do so in conjunction with an agreement to pay a reasonable monthly license fee. The license would cover the private, noncommercial sharing of music, between two or more parties, using any Internet-based file-sharing client.
- *It is important to note that a license fee differs fundamentally from a levy or tax in that consumers may opt out if they self-declare not to music file-share.
- Net revenues would be split between performers, songwriters, and rights-holders. Any particular musical work would attract a pro rata share of the entire revenue pool based on the number of times that work was file-shared. Once that pro rata share was determined, the performer, songwriter, record label and music publisher would split that amount based on an agreed upon formula and contractual obligations.
- A monetized music file-sharing system would give consumers access to the world's entire catalogue of recorded music, and at the same time fairly compensate creators and rights-holders. We invite our colleagues in the music industry, consumers, ISPs and all stakeholders to join with us in helping to realize this exciting vision of the future.
The proposal summary explains everything pretty clearly, but detail enthusiasts can download the complete proposal in PDF form here.
What do you guys think?
