Canadian Heritage committee  Let me first of all clarify that it is a licence we're talking about, not a tax or a levy. I think it's important to note that there are many songwriters out there who don't have the luxury of benefiting from touring or from selling CDs off the stage, selling T-shirts, or selling concert tickets.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, absolutely. In fact, the more transparent it is, the better for everyone, especially the consumer, especially those of us who are sharing music. We want to know that it's going to the right place. The collective would obviously have to be made up of songwriters, artists, record labels, and music publishers, and probably ISPs.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I'm not a lawyer. However, what I've been told is that if in fact they are opting out, and they choose to ignore what they've just opted out of, it's a different law. We're dealing with different legislation that already exists for that.

Canadian Heritage committee  We didn't actually talk about monthly amounts. They had our initial research, which included between $1 and $5 a month. They knew that we were talking about that range. We're not actually hung up on what the amount is. If in fact this was something we needed government support on, I would assume that someone like the Copyright Board would determine that based on discussions with consumers and based on discussions with the industry.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, when we first introduced this and started talking to some of the consumer groups, that was a big concern. It's a concern for me personally. I mean, my mom says she doesn't download music, but Charlie seems to think she does. The notion for us to create an opt-out was important.

Canadian Heritage committee  We talked to the Canadian Recording Industry Association probably three years ago, when we first started talking about this. At the time they were convinced that CDs were coming back. That's what they told us. Sorry, Justin, did you do that on purpose?

Canadian Heritage committee  But some of the major labels are coming around. There is some movement. Warner Music was trying to create a similar kind of licensing scheme, if you will, with something that has since disappeared. It was their attempt to create a portal, I think. I think many of us have seen samples of websites that have come and gone, attempts to monetize music.

Canadian Heritage committee  When we first started talking about this, that was a big concern. With those that are legitimate download services, that was a concern. In other words, what's going to happen to iTunes? The reality is that BitTorrent and files shared are a different level and quality of music. iTunes provides added value, and so will other companies that come out of this.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are a couple of things. Let me clarify. The study that was done was done at the University of Hertfordshire, which is in the U.K. So it's a U.K. study. It's our hope that we do a similar study in Canada at some point. But representing 80% of those who file-share was really important in that the results showed that people would like to pay if they could.

Canadian Heritage committee  We're not going to hold a lot of hope in a judgment being overturned. Having said that, it's certainly our hope to come up with a business-to-business solution, one that doesn't require a change in legislation, one that doesn't require a lot of effort on the government's part, to be honest with you.

Canadian Heritage committee  The easiest answer is that we had some studies done that were economic studies, a study done that was on international copyright and whether or not this would fit into the WIPO restrictions, and we also had a technological study done. The technological study we did determined that file sharing can't be stopped.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's our objective, of course, to ensure that the amount.... We'd be delighted if it was $20 a month, as you can probably imagine, but the reality is that we realize this is a part of the industry that's broken and that can't be fixed. Quite frankly, if you try to stop it, it's just going to appear again somewhere else times ten.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. The collective will probably work in a way that is not dissimilar to the way other collectives work. SOCAN is a good example. They basically distribute to artists and songwriters and music publishers. The private copy folks will also have a distribution. I will walk you through the process.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know. I can only speak to my own situation and those I'm aware of, but typically I think people are paying anywhere from $25 to upwards of $100 a month, depending on what they're getting.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think right now they are balking at everything, because the Supreme Court has said they're not liable for what goes through their pipes. That being said, we have had some private discussions with a couple of ISPs that are very intrigued with this idea, because the way we've laid it out we want them to be a partner and not an adversary in this.