The bill for the amendment of the Canadian Copyright Act was submitted to the House of Commons this week and all voting members are cordially invited to discuss this issue while attending SODRAC’s seventh annual general meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 5:00 pm at our headquarters in Montreal. This is a very important event because we will also be presenting the financial results for 2009 and announcing the names of the individuals you have selected to represent you on SODRAC’s new Board of Directors, which will oversee our operations for the next three years (2010-2013).

Thanks to the hard work of our team in 2009, we finalized a number of agreements ensuring compensation for use of your works in an ever-growing number of distribution channels, not only in the music field but also in the areas of visual arts and crafts. The highlights of the past year and the various initiatives under which we are implementing SODRAC’s strategic plan demonstrate how collective rights management in the digital era remains the cornerstone of efforts to ensure that creators are fully compensated for their work, while facilitating rights clearance for users.

Given the current environment, in which pressures are mounting on the creative community to permit use of their works without monetary compensation, to generate royalty-free works, as well as accepting other legal exceptions, it is essential that we remain mobilized so that, with your support, the new Board may continue to energetically carry out the initiatives that have been launched in recent years.

Please read the notice for the annual general meeting together with the documents that were distributed to all voting members. If you would like to attend, please contact us by email at cbelval@sodrac.ca or by phone at (514) 845-3268, ext. 225. Registration for the meeting will begin at 4:00 pm on June 15.

My colleagues and I look forward to seeing you there!

The authors, composers, and editors that are represented by SODRAC will be affected by the adoption of the proposed bill, which was made public by the federal government on Wednesday June 2nd 2010. Consequently, the changes being proposed may cause you to lose more than a third of the revenues that you receive for the reproduction of your works. Here are the major points which affect you:

• The fact that no measures to update the private copy regime have been introduced (visit the website www.savethelevy.ca) and the bill would allow the recording of works for personal use without compensation for the right holders.

• A return to the exemption of ephemeral copies before 1997, which would remove the requirement for broadcasters to pay to make temporary copies to reproduce your works.

• If the time has come for legislators to implement the Internet treaty from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in our opinion the proposed amendment does not impose sufficient judicial and financial responsibility on Internet services providers (ISP).

• For authors of artistic works, no resale rights (droit de suite) have been introduced to allow them to benefit from the profits made on the resale of their works. However, the project finally grants photographers the same authorship rights as other creators.

We will react to the amendment in more detail shortly. Watch for updates on our website!

SODRAC recently signed a framework agreement with Bell Mobility Inc. covering the use of works in its repertoire as ringtones. This agreement will prove beneficial in several respects; it also reflects our commitment to facilitating relations with users in order to maximize the royalties we collect on behalf of our members.

As ringtones have gained in popularity, SODRAC has entered into various agreements with firms that provide digital reproductions of musical works on behalf of wireless service providers (WSPs) such as Bell Mobility.

In the past, these intermediary firms—also known as content aggregators—submitted reports to us on concerning the reproduction of works in our repertoire; these reports were based in turn on reports submitted by the WSPs. These firms were numerous and many of them had operating difficulties; to avoid the inconveniences associated with the intermediary-based management approach, SODRAC decided to gradually wind down its business relationships with these content aggregators and to forge more direct—and more effective—ties with the WSPs themselves. In addition to being more solvent and more reliable, WSPs are closer to the consumers who generate the royalty revenues we collect.

Thus, this is why we are pleased to announce today that SODRAC has concluded this agreement with Bell Mobility. Please note that the Bell Mobility agreement is retroactive to January 1, 2008, which means additional royalties for SODRAC members whose works were used in the past by WSP subscribers.

For SODRAC, June 1, 2010 marks the beginning of a series of Copyright Board hearings. Starting this month, SODRAC will be submitting a total of four applications to the Copyright Board for the purpose of determining the royalty rates payable for use of its members’ works.

Arbitration
The Copyright Board will also consider our application for arbitration with SRC/CBC and 10 Astral Group specialty channels at a joint hearing. We remind you that SODRAC has had general agreements with TV broadcasters for many years. Please note that SODRAC is now requesting a royalty payment based on anew economic model, which takes into account the reproduction of works from our repertoire made on different platforms by TV broadcasters. If the Copyright Board approves our application, it will mean a significant increase in the royalties paid by these broadcasters. At the same time, the Copyright Board will finalize the terms of the provisional decision it issued on December 14, 2009 at the approved rate, as mentioned in the last issue of Replica.

Tariff renewal
We will be making further representations at a Copyright Board hearing aimed at renewing SODRAC Tariff 5 for videocopies of cinematographic works covering the period 2009-2012. This will be followed by a hearing on June 22 to renew the CMRRA/SODRAC Inc. (CSI) tariff for online music services, at which SODRAC, through the intermediary of CSI, will apply to the Copyright Board to raise the 2008-2010 royalty rate.

The initiatives we have undertaken with the Copyright Board represent potential royalty sources for SODRAC members; in several cases, the Board’s http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/tariffs-tarifs/certified-homologues/2010/20100529.pdf decisions will apply retroactively. These initiatives will also benefit authors, composers and publishers who decide to entrust SODRAC with managing their reproduction rights in the coming years.

Together with 225 member organizations of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) operating in 118 countries, SODRAC is constantly seeking to improve its productivity and service quality. To that end, Guylaine Théroux, SODRAC’s Director of Operations, took part in the 15th session of the Common Information system (CIS), held in Istanbul, Turkey from February 22-26.

These meetings are essential for streamlining the flow of information between organizations; they also allow us to develop common documentation standards, as well as administrative rules and collective copyright management tools. The gathering in Istanbul also provided an opportunity to meet with colleagues from other countries and to discuss a range of topics, including the issue of film music composed by our members.

In June 2009, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) launched a high-profile campaign entitled “Save the Levy!” in support of the private copying regime, in which you were asked to participate.

One year later, while the Canadian government introduced this week a bill to amend the Copyright Act that does not modernize the private copying regime, the creative community must continue to lobby for measures ensuring that the private copying levy applies to digital recorders (such as MP3 players) as well, not just to “blank audio media” such as recordable CDs (CD-Rs) and MiniDiscs. Please note that the Copyright Board issued a decision on May 29 excluding cassettes, now obsolete, from the blank audio media to which the levy applies. However, our lawmakers must take action if the private copying levy is to be extended to digital recorders. Rights holders must continue to have their voices heard to ensure that the bill C-32 is modified before adoption, in order to extend the application of the private copying regime to new recording devices.

Since the Canadian government has vowed to take citizens’ interests into account in its amendments to the Copyright Act, it is imperative that creators make their voices heard by emphasizing the importance of updating the private copying regime, thereby preserving a royalty source that enhances the vitality of our creative community. Please visit www.savethelevy.ca, where you can post comments describing how the private copying levy is essential to your work and thus to our cultural heritage.

SODRAC and Toronto-based Joyner Canadian Fine Art (one of Canada’s premier auction houses) recently signed a major agreement concerning the payment of copyright royalties for the use of works by visual artists and craftspeople. The agreement includes a settlement for past uses and involves the payment of recurring royalties for online reproduction and distribution of works in connection with auctions organized by Joyner.

This is the second agreement that SODRAC has signed with an auction house, following that entered into with Montreal-based IEGOR-Hôtel des Encans in December 2009. SODRAC is negotiating with other Canadian online auction houses that use works in its repertoire in their operations.

The next payment of COPIBEC reprographic royalties in which visual artists and craftspeople can participate is expected to take place by the end of the year. As in the past, SODRAC will be compiling and forwarding information on your published works to COPIBEC in order to determine your eligibility for royalties. Keep an eye on our communications for news on future developments.

Please notify us of any changes to your contact information by emailing us at members@sodrac.ca. It’s a quick and easy way of keeping us informed at all times.

Please provide us with the following information:

• First name/last name
• New address (street number, street, city, province, postal code, phone number and email)
• Effective date of your move

REMINDER: If you wish to keep on receiving your royalty payments and SODRAC’s communications, please ensure that we have your current contact information on file.