Canadian artists protest labels' piracy plans

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Canadian musicians, including

Avril Lavigne and

Sarah McLachlan, have formed a lobby group to speak out against U.S.-style anti-piracy measures called for by the major labels.

Steve Page, lead singer with the Barenaked Ladies and co-founder of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC), told a Toronto press conference Monday that using DVD locks and peer-to-peer lawsuits to halt music file sharing online only angered fans.

"The more you push your audience away, the more you destroy the industry," Page said.

The CMCC was launched last week with backing from Lavigne, McLachlan and artists such as

Randy Bachman,

Chantal Kreviazuk, Sam Roberts, Sum 41, Feist, Blue Rodeo and Billy Talent.

It follows six major Canadian independent music labels, including Nettwerk and True North Records, pulling out of the Canadian Recording Industry Assn. (CRIA), which represents major record labels here.

Major Hollywood studios and record labels have recently stepped up lobbying efforts in Ottawa for harsher copyright laws through ratification by Canada of the 1996 WIPO (World Intellectial Property Organization) Internet treaty.

Page insisted CRIA did not, and should not, speak for Canadian artists when urging WIPO, digital rights management and lawsuits to halt music piracy.

"We want that to stop. We want a seat at the public policy table," he said.

Andrew Cash of the Cash Brothers, another Canadian band, said CRIA aimed less at protecting Canadian artists than sustaining a business model made increasingly obsolete by the Internet and other emerging digital technologies.

"Suing our fans is destructive and hypocritical, and digital locks are risky and counterproductive," Cash argued, echoing a brief sent Monday to the federal ministers of heritage and industry in Ottawa.

The Canadian artists argued their future lay less in the sale of music in record stores than in sharing their music online to foster performance careers and merchandise sales.

"Record executives need to get their heads out of record stores," Page said.

He added the Barenaked Ladies made money on their Web site by allowing fans to purchase video copies or recorded CDs from recent concerts, or by making select music cuts available on iTunes.

CRIA president Graham Henderson, delivering a speech on Canadian copyright law at the Canadian Club in Toronto, said music as promotion worked for some artists.

But he argued far more artists wanted compensation for music that Canadians continued to download for free with impunity.

"Canadians will continue to steal other people's property until we tell them it is wrong and find ways to stop them," Henderson argued.

The Canadian courts and high-speed Internet access providers have so far proved reluctant to do the major labels' bidding and police music piracy, and have instead sought a balance between the interests of creators and consumers.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter