Bill C-11 committee  Thank you. Re:Sound is the not-for-profit collective dedicated to obtaining fair compensation for artists and record companies for their performance and communication rights. We represent the royalty rights of more than 12,000 musicians, including featured and session musicians

Bill C-11 committee  Yes. Some of the numbers we have and some of the quotes I was given before come straight from Copyright Board decisions. When they render decisions on tariffs like those on commercial radio, they go through all the economic evidence presented by the radio stations in terms of the

Bill C-11 committee  No, there is no place elsewhere in the world that has a subsidy for commercial radio.

Bill C-11 committee  The $1.25 million exemption is, as far as we're aware, the only provision in the act that prevents the Copyright Board from doing what they're there to do. When they have looked at it every time in their decisions, they set out separate rates for low-use music stations, for commu

Bill C-11 committee  We certainly hope so. In terms of the $1.25 million exemption, as I said before, it's in a part of the act that was called “Special and Transitional Royalty Rates”. It was very much a product of the time and where radio was at, at the time. Those times have changed a lot. It's be

Bill C-11 committee  Every other collective licensing regime and even reproduction rights regimes in the act have clear rules that set out that an orphan, when they come forward later, have the right to claim moneys. It also sets out the ability for the Copyright Board to set clear regulations and cl

Bill C-11 committee  What we're talking about in terms of performance communication rights...technology does not play a role. It is just the right to perform and communicate the music over the air. Technology has not changed that at all over the years.

Bill C-11 committee  That's correct.

Bill C-11 committee  Yes. I think you could say it is a bargain. If you look at other Rome Convention countries, all of whom have neighbouring rights, the rates there are not subject to subsidies or not subject to legislated reductions. That is something unique to Canada. Our overall rates on radio

Bill C-11 committee  It's millions of dollars. Basically, if we can't locate 5% of the rights-holders each year, it just grows from year to year. It becomes a bigger and bigger problem.

Bill C-11 committee  We haven't been able to do it on our own because there aren't any rules in the Copyright Act that set out how we can do it. In every other regime in the Copyright Act those rules exist, and the ability of the Copyright Board to set regulations exists.

Bill C-11 committee  As I said before, we're talking about millions of dollars. From year to year this applies to about 5% of rights-holders who may join up with us; after a tariff has been certified it may be longer. So if you're looking at 5% of our revenues being subject to this orphan provision o

Bill C-11 committee  The royalties that radio stations would pay more of would depend upon the size of the radio station. A radio station that was right at the $1.25 million mark would pay about $18,000.

Bill C-11 committee  That's based on the rate the Copyright Board sets even with the existence of this subsidy. The Copyright Board sets tiered rates. They set different rates for different types of radio stations and different sizes. They have always set a lower rate for stations under $1.25 million

Bill C-11 committee  A station with $2 million in revenue at the moment pays nothing on that first $1.25 million.