Rap & Hip-Hop Culture : How to Buy Blank CDs
Buying blank CDs for recording music or transferring data offers CD options in both quality and design. Burn CDR discs once or CDRW discs multiple ...
The iPod and Playbook Get Political
A surprising number of Canadians may not be aware of the levy that they are paying on the blank CDs they buy and how proposed legislative changes could have great future impact on not just media but devices as well.
First, a brief history lesson. In 1999, a group called the Canadian Private Copying Collective ( http://cpcc.ca/)was formed to represent the songwriters, recording artists, music publishers and record companies to help compensate those involved with the creation of said music. To fund the initiative, a levy has been imposed on the medium which is most commonly used for copies of music. Initially, that was audio CDs and cassette tapes. The levy on blank CDs initially was just over five cents per disc and is now 29 cents per. This explains why a blank CD (which holds approximately 650 megabytes of information) is more expensive than a blank DVD (which holds approximately 4700 megabytes of information). There is no levy on blank DVDs.
The money collected through this method is distributed to the copyright holders using a method that is based upon the popularity of music. Taking sales data for the most popular records, the CPCC distributes half of its funds on a pro-rated basis to the music that was sold most at retail during the time period. The second half is based upon which music received the most air play on our radio stations during the time period. Obviously, a certain portion of the funds collected are used to administer the program.