Canadian Music Creators Coalition

A new group of Canadian music artists have banded to protect Canadian music and their fans.

Members include Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sum 41, Stars, Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), Dave Bidini (Rheostatics), Billy Talent, John K. Samson (Weakerthans), Broken Social Scene, Sloan, Andrew Cash and Bob Wiseman (Co-founder Blue Rodeo).

The Montr?ɬ©al-based group had this to say in a policy paper released today:

Fans who share music are not thieves or pirates. Sharing music has been happening for decades. It is hypocritical for labels to sue fans for something that everyone in the music industry has done him or herself. New technologies may have changed the way that fans share music, but they have not changed the fact that sharing helps artists?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ careers.

93 thoughts on “Canadian Music Creators Coalition

  1. They use US law as an example of what they don’t want…

    They are positioning themselves so that suggested legislative changes do not go into effect.

  2. It will be interesting to see how the Canadian recording industry fares over the ensuing years and decades if they get their wishes. It seems to me the artists are exchanging their long-term interests for their short-term interests.

    If copying is allowed at will, it’s hard to see why people would buy a cd or a download from the record company. If there’s nothing wrong with making copies and not paying the record company for them, I fail to see why it would be wrong for MTV, MuchMusic, TV commercials, and TV programs to use them without paying. And if those revenue sources are taken from record companies, it’s hard to see how there will be any big, mean, soulless record companies for singers to sign contracts with.

  3. It is impressive, though, how generous these performers are—with someone else’s money and someone else’s rights.

  4. “And if those revenue sources are taken from record companies, it’s hard to see how there will be any big, mean, soulless record companies for singers to sign contracts with.”

    …and somehow you make this sound like a *bad* thing.

  5. No, not at all. Who needs a recording industry? Canada can just have free music for all. Songwriters and singers can all go and get accounting degrees or build chairs for a living. (Do they still manufacture things in Canada? We’ve stopped in the U.S.) Or, they can sing on street corners for tips.

  6. I guess the thousands of people who work for the record companies will have to find new work, too. But that shouldn’t be a problem, right? Maybe they can hire on for voyages to the Arctic and kill baby seals.

  7. …because those are the only two alternatives, right?

    The status quo, or absolutely no record industry at all.

    Killing baby seals? I mean really.
    If you want to talk about senseless killing perhaps we should start another war on terror thread.

  8. As to the disappearance of the recording industry, I’m just trying to follow the logical chain of events that would probably occur if copyright protections are done away with. Are there other possibilities? Probably.

    As to the killing of baby seals, I just figured that since record companies are so evil, the people who work there would want to find similarly evil employment. It wouldn’t have to be killing seals. It could be, say, child prostitution or slavery.

  9. How about answering this question – Forget the part about it being legal or illegal – Is it morally correct to copy another person’s project? What would Jesus say about it?

  10. Killing of Baby Seals – Is that a Canadian thing? Do you have too many seals? Do you eat the meat or just simply sell the baby seal coats for money? Any difference between Canadians and Music Compnaies? hum?

    Of course we have our own crazy killing hobbies. We have rattle snake hunts. We don’t hunt baby seals, I mean we don’t club to death baby seals.

    Veal is quite tasty – Is baby seal meat like veal? Might be a good sport if it is.

    Music companies – Supply and demand.

  11. Bill, I’m not even Canadian, so I don’t think I can answer that. I was just trying to think of a really heinous line of work. (As far as I know, if and when seals are killed by non-natives, it’s generally done for the fur rather than the meat.)

  12. Bill

    Canadians do not hunt baby seals. There is a First Nations tribe that participates in a seal hunt, but this is not a “Canadian practice”.

    And before jumping on that bandwagon, it might be good to research it.

  13. I had no idea my joking reference to seal killing would touch off such interest. I guess I should have chosen something different, such as “go to work for Snidely Whiplash and Simon Lagree.”

  14. Well, I should say not ALL Canadians kill baby seals. Or seals period. Or eat them, or anything. Let’s just say it most certainly isn’t a Canadian sport. Hockey is. And Lacrosse. And Curling. And a lot of other sports.

  15. So, there’s no danger of the “seal club” becoming a winter Olympic event?

  16. …not unless the figure skaters are willing to clear the ice first.

  17. Wouldn’t it be more challenging and entertaining if both events had to take place simultaneously?

    In fact, the combined event idea could work for all kinds of Olympic events: Think of the possibilities:

    Basketball and pole vaulting
    Archery and the 100-meter run
    Water polo and shot put

    It’s endless…

  18. I watched a program on cable TV and it was about killing baby seals for their white fur. I did not see anyone that looked like a First Nation to me. They looked very English to me.

    Maybe Canada could host a SPECIAL OLYMPICS and the game could be cricket and the ball could be Baby Seals. You have it all – English looking men with bats hitting Baby Seals and making money. Pro Sports way to go. Just think of the TV rights something like this would generate. It could come on right after WWF or Ultimate Fighter.

    All kidding aside – Why would Canada allow something so gross to happen year after year? The USA abolished Bull fighting, Cock Fighting, Dog Fights. The killing of Baby Seals for their white coats is about the worst thing I have seen in my life.

    Side note – I understand the Canadian Army has like 5 helicopters and only 4 of them work. Is this correct?

  19. It is illegal to hunt harp seals while their coats are still white.

    “I understand the Canadian Army has like 5 helicopters and only 4 of them work.”

    It may be. The Air Force, on the other hand, has 85 Griffons, 28 Sikorskys, 15 Cormorants, 14 Jet Rangers and 28 Sea Kings.

  20. Is it still true that the Canadian Defence Forces are united? I know they went back to using three uniforms a few years ago, but I thought the united force was still a reality, so that you don’t really join the army, the navy, or the air force anymore, but just join the defence forces and wear the uniform that’s most relevant to your duty. If I’m right, then any aircraft that belongs to the air force also belongs to the army, and the navy.

  21. This thread is getting WAY off topic, but I thought I would join in the fun.

    I don’t get what all the fuss is about the seal hunt. I hope that nobody who complains about it eats beef, chicken, or tuna. Oh, and I hope they don’t wear leather either.

    How is killing a seal any different than killing any other animal for food or clothing. I mean, I guess seals are much more cute than cattle, but the concept is the same. Is it only okay to kill ugly animals?

    Am I missing some aspect of the controversy?

  22. It’s baby seals they are talking about.

    Actually, I am a vegetarian myself (19 years of veggieness) so I don’t eat beef, chicken or tuna or any meat. Ew. Hate the stuff. As far as leather, well, I am not a vegan, so yes, I do wear leather. Except not a leather jacket or leather pants, ew.

  23. Though I’ve never yet owned a pair of leather pants (yikes! chafing!), I’ve never felt inclined to say “ew” as I don my leather jacket. Do you know what makes it seem less acceptable to you than other uses of leather?

  24. Bill, I’m just going to assume that in #68 you used the term “special Olympics” as a generic term meaning, a set of games outside the usual Olympiad, and that you weren’t talking about Special Olympics, which is a worldwide organization hosting athletic events for the developmentally disabled. I really, really, really hope that’s what you meant.

  25. pants I mean. Well, I am not too fond of leather jackets either, but ok, it’s fashion. I was a teenager of the 80’s and there was far too much leather wearing at that point than my (as the definition was then) alternative self could handle. Of course alternative in the 80s is not the same as alternative now. Keep that in mind. But I don’t know, leather shoes are ok, leather purses only marginally better, but leather clothes, just NOT my bag.

  26. Oh, Mary, I’m so disappointed. You really think my brown leather bomber jacket looks ugly? I know you haven’t seen mine, but just think back to those World War II movies and picture what the pilots wore.

  27. bomber jackets are ok. other leather jackets not ok. i think the only reason though, is because of Top Gun.

    leather pants are just GROSS. though they should be worn when riding motorcycles for safety reasons, and that is only when they are acceptable.

  28. Oh, no, not TOP GUN! If I think any more about that movie, I’ll have to throw my jacket away and never touch it again (right after I finish some self-induced vomiting). :)

  29. Oh no…now I’ve given away my weakness. Picture me sitting in a room tied to a chair with a single bulb shining above my head, while Rick, Bill and SteveEM stand around me shouting “TOP GUN! TOP GUN! TOP GUN! Confess now, or we show another clip!”

  30. well, it wasn’t my favoruite movie, but tom cruise, before he became a dweeb, looked kind of cute (though this was before my husband became the sexiest man alive.

    hey i am right, aren’t i? well i mean the other person who said you are air force. hehe

  31. Interesting idea. I suppose I might be in the Air Force. I guess it depends on whether, in the previous comments that led to to this thought, I was being truthful. It also depends on whether I’m a current or just a former member of the Air Force. Then, too, there’s the issue of whether I might be in the Air Force reserve or the Air National Guard and hold a completely different job outside of military service. Or, I may just be very good at misleading you about my job. Have fun.

  32. We’d have to reconcile it with all the amazing discoveries that Bill has made about me…

    I wonder if it’s possible to be an unemployed, right-wing, Communist member of the Taliban and still serve in the Air Force.

    Or maybe I just fantasize about being in the Air Force.

    Or maybe “Air Force” is a code phrase I’m using to tip off my buddies in Al Qaeda and the Taliban for our next move.

    I’m sure Bill will have it all figured out for us soon.

  33. (Gee…I notice you didn’t say anything about not being in al Qaeda…. :o )

  34. Well, we’ll have to see what Bill (a.k.a., The Oracle) has to say about that. I don’t think he’ll like being contradicted—that must mean you’re not open to the truth. :)

  35. I’m still trying to figure out when I became a nemesis on par with Bill to ltbugaf…

  36. I don’t know when. But since reading your question, I’ve tried (relying on memory alone) to think when was the last time you responded to one of my posts with anything but contempt. I still haven’t come up with one.

  37. (I guess “one of my comments” would be a more accurate way to put it since I don’t really do “posts” here.

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