Music Canada facts for kids
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| Formation | April 9, 1963 |
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| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Music Canada is a non-profit group that helps companies involved in making, selling, and sharing music in Canada. It was started on April 9, 1963, in Toronto. This organization works to protect the interests of record labels and music distributors. It also helps some of Canada's top independent record labels and distributors.
Music Canada has changed its name a few times. It was first called the Canadian Record Manufacturer's Association until 1972. Then, it became the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) until 2011.
Contents
History of Music Canada
Music Canada started as the Canadian Record Manufacturer's Association with only 10 members. In 1972, it changed its name to the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). This change allowed more music companies to join.
In 2006, some smaller music labels left CRIA. They felt the organization was not looking out for their interests. On July 7, 2011, CRIA changed its name again to Music Canada. It then started offering special benefits to independent music labels and distributors in Canada.
How Music Canada Works
Music Canada is managed by a board of directors. These directors are chosen each year by the members of the organization. To be on the board, a person must be a top leader from one of the member companies.
Patrick Rogers became the new Chief Executive Officer on January 11, 2021. Before him, Graham Henderson was president from 2004 to 2020. Brian Robertson held the position before that, starting in 1974.
Music Canada has different types of members:
- Class A members are Canadian people or companies whose main job is to produce, make, or sell sound recordings. These members can vote on important decisions. Currently, the "big four" record labels are Class A members.
- Class B members are Canadian people or companies whose main job is producing sound recordings. They pay a yearly fee but cannot vote. In 2007, there were 22 Class B members.
- Manufacturing Division members are Canadian people or companies whose main job is making sound recordings.
Other Services Provided
Music Canada helps with ISRC codes in Canada. These codes are like unique digital fingerprints for recordings. They help track music.
Music Canada also works with other groups like the IFPI and RIAA. Their goal is to stop people from illegally copying artists' music. This is called copyright infringement.
Representing Music Labels
Music Canada has traditionally represented all record labels in Canada. However, some labels and other music groups have recently disagreed with Music Canada. They say it no longer represents them.
For example, in 2006, six well-known "indie" (independent) labels, including Nettwerk, left Music Canada. They had a disagreement about Canadian content rules. These rules decide how much Canadian music must be played on radio and TV. The indie labels felt Music Canada was only protecting the interests of the "four major foreign multi-national labels." These were EMI, Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner.
Other disagreements included Music Canada's views on the blank media tax. This tax is on blank CDs or digital storage used for copying music. They also disagreed on Music Canada's support for digital locks on music and their views on changing copyright laws.
In 2007, a group of musicians formed the Canadian Music Creators Coalition. They said that new laws that would allow lawsuits against fans or give labels more control over music were not fair to artists.
Legal Actions and Copyright
Music Canada has been involved in legal cases to protect music copyright.
In 2004, Music Canada asked the Federal Court to get the names of people sharing music illegally online. This was related to peer-to-peer file sharing, where people share files directly with each other.
In a case called BMG v. John Doe in 2004, a judge ruled that just making music available for download on the Internet was not always the same as distributing it. This meant it might not be copyright infringement in some cases. The court said that simply having a song available online was like having a photocopier in a library.
Later, the Copyright Board of Canada said that downloading music for personal use was "private copying". This means it was okay if it came from a legal source. This made it harder to sue people for downloading music. It focused efforts on those who were uploading and sharing the music with many others.
In 2008, the operators of the isoHunt website, which allowed file sharing, tried to get a court ruling that their site was legal. The court said a full trial was needed. IsoHunt later sued Music Canada and the major record labels to clarify its legal rights.
Also in 2008, the main members of Music Canada were sued by the family of artist Chet Baker and other artists. The lawsuit claimed that about 300,000 songs were shared illegally by Music Canada's members. It also said they did not get proper licenses or agreements with the artists for these songs. The songs were put on a "pending list," meaning payments were waiting for an agreement with the artists.
This lawsuit could have led to very large payments. However, on November 8, 2011, the case was settled out of court for over $45 million.
Certification Awards
Music Canada gives out awards to celebrate how many copies of albums and singles are sold or streamed. These awards are called Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
Album Awards
These awards are based on how many albums are sold. The numbers needed for each award changed in 2008.
| Certification | Albums before May 1, 2008 | Albums after May 1, 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | 50,000 | 40,000 |
| Platinum | 100,000 | 80,000 |
| Diamond | 1,000,000 | 800,000 |
Single Awards
Before September 12, 2016, there were different rules for physical singles (like CDs) and digital downloads. After that date, the awards for singles include both digital downloads and physical sales. They also count streams, where 150 on-demand audio streams count as one unit towards an award.
| Certification | Singles after September 12, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Gold | 40,000 |
| Platinum | 80,000 |
| Diamond | 800,000 |
Single Awards Before September 2016
Here are the rules for physical singles and digital downloads before September 2016.
| Physical singles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Certification | Before February 1, 1982 |
Before September 2002 |
After September 2002 |
| Gold | 75,000 | 50,000 | 5,000 |
| Platinum | 150,000 | 100,000 | 10,000 |
| Diamond | 1,500,000 | 1,000,000 | 100,000 |
| Digital downloads | |||
| Certification | Before January 1, 2007 |
Until April, 2010 |
After May 1, 2010 (Ended September 12, 2016) |
| Gold | 10,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 |
| Platinum | 20,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 |
| Diamond | 200,000 | 400,000 | 800,000 |
Music Canada uses the most recent award levels for digital download singles, even for songs released earlier. For example, the song "Right Round" by Flo Rida feat. Kesha was released in 2009. At that time, Gold was 10,000 units and Platinum was 20,000 units. But when Music Canada gave it a three-times Platinum award in 2010, they used the newer levels, meaning it had sold 240,000 units.
Ringtone Awards
Awards for ringtones were stopped on April 1, 2021.
| Certification | For all RingTone releases |
|---|---|
| Gold | 20,000 |
| Platinum | 40,000 |
| Diamond | 400,000 |
Music DVD Awards
Awards for music DVDs were also stopped on April 1, 2021.
| Certification | For all Video releases |
|---|---|
| Gold | 5,000 |
| Platinum | 10,000 |
| Diamond | 100,000 |
See also
In Spanish: Music Canada para niños
- Canadian Private Copying Collective
- RIAA
