Music writers, publishers entitled to streaming royalties

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OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – The Supreme Court of Canada has made a number of copyright rulings that will influence how you receive music on the Internet.

As far the high court is concerned, you don’t have to worry about paying additional fees for royalties on music you download.

But the judges have also ruled that those who create the music — artists, composers, producers, etc — are entitled to compensation when their works are streamed, as it no different than conventional broadcasting.

Lindsey Pinto with Open Media is quite pleased with what was decided today.

“This decision essentially makes a lot of sense for the way the Internet works and will, in all likelihood, help with the way that users’ rights and the rights of Internet users to share things online and to engage with online content is matched with rights of creators,” explains Pinto.

“People can access the content that they want and be able to engage in content sharing and downloading content without that being criminalized, while also making sure that artists are fairly compensated,” she adds.

The court has also upheld the view of school boards that photocopying material for students in school does not infringe the Copyright Act, as it falls under what is called “fair use.”

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