SOCAN the Canadian RIAA

[AChimp]

It's true, actually.

This was in the news last week or so when this fat recording agent guy was whining that musicians are having their stuff played in all these other places and not getting a cent.

Thing is, though, he was including places like big department stores and shopping malls, not just offices. Store owners were laughing at him because they said they already pay for special "store broadcast" compilation tapes/CDs, and if they're gonna get charged for extra stuff, they'll just turn on the radio instead.

Copyright laws aren't really a big deal here in Canada (contrary to what the RIAA is trying to make it sound like). It's perfectly legal here to make as many copies of anything you have, as long as it's for private use. If I lend you a CD and you make your own private copy of it, that's okay.

It's in the gray area, yeah, but chances are the government won't get around to looking at it for a few years because of bigger issues like gay marriage, our military and the economy. Plus, with Chretien retiring next year, he's not about to dive into a new issue, and whoever is PM next won't give two shits about some music when their own kids probably download MP3s every night.