Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Richards, I'd like to take a crack at your question. When you look at the annual returns in music industries around the world, some are actually positive. That's a lesson for Canada—which ones are, and why. Sweden is one, as is the U.K., Australia, and Korea. It isn't all bad news.

Canadian Heritage committee  And Donald K Donald in Montreal; Donald Tarleton is also an example.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, and that's a strategy based on building business. We expect and appreciate all our révérence. We're not going to give it back. But on the other hand, we think we need a positive business model that builds opportunity based on new approaches to structuring businesses. Canadians are good at this because back in the seventies there were guys doing this already.

Canadian Heritage committee  Could I make a comment? We, and ADISQ in Quebec, represent most if not close to all of the domestic record production in Canada, so we own all the copyrights to the stuff that's going to be traded on these networks. I don't want to debate Don on the merits of the system, but I was for 25 years a researcher, and the last research I did was on this phenomenon, before I came into this association.

Canadian Heritage committee  If you think about the old model, a company in the record business would make a record, sell 50,000 to 100,000 copies of the record, somebody else would sell the publishing rights, someone else would manage the band, someone else would create merchandise and sell it. There might be five or six companies involved.

Canadian Heritage committee  The federal government does a lot already, and I have to admit that we get a great deal of support from Heritage Canada. We had a renewal this year of the Canada Music Fund, but we also had some cutbacks in areas that I feel were really constructive. In particular, I don't think Canadians feel that sending their artists overseas is a waste of money or some kind of party.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have brought them back some way. They're prepared--I think they testified in front of this committee--to support the levy insofar as it doesn't provide a haven for file sharing. That has been their position all along, I think, although it was articulated more recently. That's really our position too, honestly.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not against it, but I think it has some challenges and I think we have to understand the facts.

Canadian Heritage committee  I want to make a comment or just inform you of other studies that exist on the same topic. You're probably aware of the French three strikes laws that are now enforced. The studies that underpin those were done by an economist at the University of Paris. He's a very accomplished individual.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, the original law, which applied to tape recorders, essentially, the private copying levy, didn't just apply to tape recorders. If you read it, it's technologically neutral. It says, essentially, that any device that is capable of receiving an audio recording should in fact pay a levy.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate this opportunity today to address your committee, and thank you to the committee members for inviting us. First of all, I apologize for speaking English only. If you have any questions in French, I will try to answer them.

Canadian Heritage committee  All right, I will make an effort. My wife is from Val-d'Or so I have to speak French. Thanks again. The Canadian Independent Music Association, formerly known as CIRPA, has represented the interests of Canada's English-language domestic music production companies for 30 years.