(Toronto) – The Liberal party of Canada today announced a new proposal for continued compensation to rights holders for copies made of musical works.

“Specifically, the Liberal Party will seek to introduce a new Private Copying Compensation Payment of $35 million to be transferred to Canadian artists each year, through the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC).  Liberals are proposing a new statutory program, written in law within the Copyright Act, which will increase at the rate of inflation and be reviewed every five years”, stated a Liberal press release earlier today.

“The current private copying levy was introduced into law in 1997 by a Liberal government and the CPCC encourages members from all political parties to support this amendment to C-32 which would provide compensation to rights holders for private copies made of their music,” stated Annie Morin, Chair of the CPCC Board of Directors. “Copyright is a difficult issue and it is gratifying to see elected officials working to finding compromises in balancing the needs of the consumers and the rights of the creators.  I am pleased that the concept of fair compensation for artists is finally being addressed in a meaningful way in this proposal”

The CPCC is the non-profit agency that collects the private copying royalty and distributes it to its member collectives, which represent songwriters, composers, music publishers, recording artists, musicians and record companies.

The Liberal’s press release can be found on their web site: www.liberal.ca.

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For more information contact:

Alison Thompson
CPCC
tel. (416) 486-6832, ex. 221
email: [email protected]