The Digital Media Association (DiMA) is continuing their Scrap the Streaming Tax campaign with a petition.
The Online Streaming Act (formerly Bill C-11) is continuing to cause headaches for consumers, creators, and businesses alike. It was just the other day that Canadian rock icon, Bryan Adams, spoke out against this. The mainstream media and the Canadian government freaked out and pushed easily debunked talking points to try and counter Adams’ valid criticisms.
The pushback was downright comical in terms of how bad it was. The government argued that the internet has resulted in Canadian’s being silenced and drowned out. Yes, they really said that. Yes, that is hilarious that they thought this was a viable argument. Despite the government pushing that talking point, many creators have basically said that it was actually the internet that allowed them to find their audiences whereas the Cancon system basically pushed those creators into obscurity.
If you thought that was a hilariously bad take, the mainstream media’s take is arguably even more laughably bad. The mainstream media, in turn, argued that it’s not a “tax”, but rather “base contributions”. As a result, the Canadian government stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars out of this. Therefor, that makes this situation all better. I know, that really does sound like I’m making this whole thing up, but you can see it for yourself in my previous article. They really did argue that as if that was going to make the price hikes all go away on their own. This even as Spotify has announced that they are increasing their rates in response to the Online Streaming Act.
All of this would be hilarious if the implications weren’t so serious. The rates of existing platforms that are planning on sticking around are going to increase to pay for these new taxes. For others, though, the suggestion is that they are going to pull up stakes and leave the country when all of this hits later on down the road. After all, the Digital Media Association (DiMA) already stated how these new taxes are destined to worsen the affordability crisis. All signs point to this being an accurate statement and a foreshadowing of things to come.
Well, in the process of all of this, DiMA did earlier launch a campaign called Scrap the Streaming Tax. The campaign site really doesn’t mince words with what is coming down the pipeline:
The government is implementing its Online Streaming Act, also known as Bill C-11, which is introducing new costs on music and video streaming services. So far, this includes an inflexible 5% levy that services must pay in order to operate in Canada. This could lead to higher prices for Canadians and fewer content choices. As a result, you may end up paying more for your favourite streaming services and have less control over what you can watch or listen to. This new tax is just the beginning. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) could impose more red tape soon that can impact your favourite streaming service, and your ability to afford and access the content you want to watch and listen to.
The site also contains a petition that allows Canadian’s to contact their MP to urge them to push back against all of this. There is a complexity thrown in in all of this. The legislation has already received royal assent and is currently before the CRTC. So, that will inherently limit what MP’s can do to pump the brakes on this. Still, it’s nice to see that option being there because it beat doing nothing about this.
At any rate, it seemed worthwhile to bring this up. Ordinary Canadian’s can, in fact, do something about all of this, even in these late stages.
