Digital Music Wars Up North Wired has an interesting article about the backlash against a rate hike on recordable media proposed by the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC). The levy, built into the price paid by consumers for recordable media such as CDRs, is intended to balance the interests of consumers who wish to freely copy music, and the music industry who wishes to be paid for the fruits of its labors, by paying royalties to the artists whose music is being copied. A similar fee is imposed on the sale of recordable media in the United States under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA). (For more information about the AHRA, go here, here, here, here, and here.)

The Canadian music industry seems to be attempting to radically alter the terms of its bargain in one fell swoop, rather than through incremental hikes (give them an inch...). The CPCC's proposal would more than double the levy charged for blank CDRs, and would expand the scope of levy to include sales of removable hard drives, recordable DVDs, MP3 players, and the like. Not surprisingly, these proposals have run into opposition from the Canadian computer industry.

In the U.S., the AHRA has run into concerns regarding its continued viability in the world of MP3s and P2P networks, necessitating a new compromise to rebalance the interests of consumers and the music industry. Canada's example points towards the need for close thought to be given to the contours of any such compromise. Added Later Copyfight is reporting on a somewhat related proposal by Harvard Law School professor Terry Fisher (HLS's own Robert Redford look-alike) to solve the problem of music piracy.