CMCC Congratulates Industry on Unparalleled Growth in Electronic Music Sales
Nielsen BDS numbers released January 17th show that Canada’s digital download market grew more than any major market in 2006. This exciting news has the Canadian Music Creators Coalition asking: “Why are the record labels still pushing for ways to sue Canadian music fans?”
According to Nielsen, Canadian sales of music downloads grew an eye-popping 120% in 2006, well ahead of the 80% growth in Europe and 65% growth in the United States. Overall music sales grew 10%.
Despite this growth, recent Canadian Press reports indicate that the major foreign music labels continue to pressure the federal government to move forward with radical changes to Canada’s Copyright Act.
Major label representatives have consistently said that the only way the industry can survive is by making it easier to sue music downloaders and by providing legal protection to so-called “digital locks.” The member artists of the CMCC — the very artists copyright laws are designed to protect — aren’t convinced.