Not all musicians and labels want multinational corporations to buy overbroad copyright laws in Canada. Neil Leyton, owner of the Canadian Creative Commons music-label Fading Ways, has issued a press-release decrying the entertainment cartel’s funding of Sam Bulte’s electroal campaign.
Bulte is the Liberal MP who is campaigning for her third seat in Parliament after receiving unprecedented campaign donations from entertainment and pharmaceutical companies in her previous campaigns. After receiving these large sums, Bulte authored reports and legislation for new draconian copyright laws that mirror the failed American system that has turned 70,000,000 American file-sharers into criminals.
Leyton, a Toronto musician and owner of the innovative, Internet-based label Fading Ways, knows what this is all about: it’s a bid to keep entrepreneurial competitors out of the market, protecting the cushy businesses of the multinational corporations that dominate Canadian culture.
CRIA and the majors have launched a massive PR assault to convince the Canadian public that downloading and file-sharing hurts record sales – again, in the independent sector, nothing could be further from the truth. The internet helps new fans discover new artists, and “piracy” is nothing but a scapegoat for the major label’s failing business models that date back to the booming 80s. Indie CD sales are up, while major labels’ sales are down due to the rise in the DVD market, and the high-price of sub-quality releases they peddle to the masses via huge marketing budgets.
Lastly, CRIA’s press release this past week dared to accuse the NDP of “abandoning their traditional support for artists” in order to attack the NDP Parkdale candidate, Peggy Nash. (CRIA candidate Sam Bulte’s opponent). Not true – the NDP is the only party that is aware of CRIA’s corporate attempt to hijack Canadian copyright legislation, which at this point remains the most balanced and fair copyright act when compared to the USA’s DMCA and the EU’s IP Enforcement Directive. One particular NDP candidate, Charlie Angus, is an independent musician, author and broadcaster himself.
Link,
Link to Digital-Copyright.ca’s Wiki for Parkdale organisers,
Link to campaign site for Peggy Nash, Bulte’s NDP opponent