Sandra Abma, World at Six TORONTO – As the American recording industry steps up its fight against the illegal sharing of music online, Canadians are starting to look at the U.S. model.Peer-to-peer file sharing, or downloading, of music has cost the North American recording industry billions of dollars.

In Canada, CD sales have dropped 20 per cent in the past three years.The American recording industry’s latest attempt to squash music piracy is a two-pronged approach: sanctioning a number of online music services and intensifying litigation against what they call « music pirates. »Americans can legally download music online – paying from US $0.79 per song on sites like Buymusic.com and Apple’s iTunes music store – but those who continue to do so illegally are being singled out by harsh legislation.

A new bill before the House of Congress proposes a five-year prison sentence and a fine of US $250,000 for the sharing of just one music file on a peer-to-peer network.The Canadian Recording Industry Association has so far taken a softer approach to online music sharing, choosing an education program aimed at young music fans. However, the apparent success of U.S attempts has prompted CRIA president Brian Robertson to look into the American model. »There’s been quite a substantive drop in peer-to-peer activity, » Robertson said. « Particularly young people, who possibly didn’t know it was illegal before, now know it’s illegal and now are getting a little bit intimidated by subpoenas being served and penalties. » And now Canadians will be able to legally download music too. This fall, both Buymusic.com and the Apple iTunes service will be made available to Canadians. A Canadian service, called Puretracks.com, is also being introduced.Customers have been eagerly looking forward to this, said Puretracks.com co-founder Alister (sic) Mitchell. « Technology moves like lightning. It takes a lot longer to work through the labyrinth, the copyright ownership, that’s involved in any one particular track, in any one particular CD. »Music lovers will pay for online music if the service is easy, the music of high quality, and the process legal, Mitchell said.

[from CBC ArtsCanada]

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