The Walrus: Canada Fights! for the Right! of Sony, EMI, Universal…

The Walrus: Canada Fights! for the Right! of Sony, EMI, Universal…
Chantelle Oliver

On Thursday June 12, Canada’s Digital Milliennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Bill C-61 was barfed out of generic politician Jim Prentice’s mouth. It was simultaneously vomit and the sputum of an industry that voraciously profited from inefficient music delivery systems to become the bloated, pussy mess it is today.

Music delivery systems have recently become incredibly efficient. No packaging, no traveling, no geographical limitations. Twenty years ago, I had to order Cowboy Junkies tapes from Columbia Music mail order and wait two weeks for it to be delivered. I only knew about the band because I stayed up until midnight on Fridays to watch skip patterns of Muchmusic’s City Limits. I thought static was part of the song. I listened to that tape, The Trinity Sessions, repeatedly for two years until it had become an echo in my brain. I longed for their first album, White Off Earth Now and a whole host of other music I saw on City Limits. But I could not find them anywhere.