The Montreal jazz festival, a very popular international music festival, pays us royalties, as it should.
That isn't the case with other large festivals, including here, in Ottawa, or even in Toronto or Vancouver. Those festivals are registered as charities for tax purposes. When we come knocking to collect the levies applicable to their events, they cite the exemption in the Copyright Act. Keep in mind we are talking about music festivals that, in some cases, go on for days and depend on access to music.