As I have already explained, no royalties are applied to devices such as smartphones or tablets, even though a huge number of copies are made on those devices. At the moment, royalties apply only to blank CD-ROMs, but almost none are sold anymore. People no longer make copies on blank CD-ROMs. Instead, they copy the music onto tablets and smartphones. Hundreds of millions of copies are being made.
The private copying scheme seeks to compensate and remunerate the artists. Again, I emphasize that this is not a tax; it is a royalty paid by manufacturers to those who hold the rights. The money does not go to the government, it goes to the creators. The aim is to provide some compensation for the additional copies made on the devices that, in Canada, are sold every day in their thousands.