06/24/2008, 9:50am, EDT
Tuesday, June 24thfrom: www.electronista.com
Spain to adopt media player tax on July 1st
Spain will be one of the next countries to adopt a so-called "iPod tax," Billboard writes. Formally known as the "digital canon," the tax will go in effect on July 1st, and apply to all electronic devices (and their media) capable of storing, copying or recording sound and images, even to the extent of applying to printers, scanners and ink cartridges. The fee levied against manufacturers will vary depending on the particular device; while ellphones with MP3 playback will warrant a levy of €1.10, dedicated MP3 players will cost an extra €3.15 each.
The tax is meant to compensate artists and publishers for the alleged costs of piracy, but has been extremely controversial in Spain, and fought against by the likes of electronics makers and consumer groups. It was in fact intended to be imposed 18 months ago, but was delayed due to debate.
Under the terms of the digital canon, at least €110.2 million must be collected in the first year, but not more than €117.8 million; if the amount breaks these limits, the culture ministry must make revisions. Internet User president Victor Domingo suggests that the tax may pull in as much as €225 million though, and that collection societies will not be monitored to determine if money is being properly distributed.
Filed under: iPod, iPhone, industry, gadgets
Other story tags: Spain
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Ha!
I'd like to see them TRY to pull that crapola here in the US. Luckily, no elected representative would be stupid enough to try and tax people to give it straight to a corporation. Don't get me wrong, corporations are the lifeblood of our economy, but current victimhood strategies employed by politicians run against this kind of grain.
I'd be willing to pay
...as much as 25eur or so upon purchasing the player and get FREE MUSIC on it for the lifetime of the device. It would then make sense to me. It would be like a kind of advance payment for the music or media you are going to consume. But imposing it on every user, regardless of his/her "piracy level" is wrong.
Ha ha ha!
Try reading a newspaper, danviento. Or is the American press too corrupt to report actual news?
tax is in effect already
huh?, such tax is in effect since past June 20th, spaniards told to me.
No surprise!
Expect to see something similar in Portugal given Barroso's pro-American and pro-corporation stance and capitulating to the idea that it's up to politicians to protect the interests of big business. I wonder how this law will stand within a pan-European context given the Goods and Services directive. I guess all that will happen is that the Spanish will buy their Media devices over the internet from other European countries. A stupid and dangerous precedent. Of course it's fuelled by the b llsh t notion that "piracy funds terrorism"!!! Yawn. Most people pirate for free so that relatively speaking, it generates about as much money as YouTube and all the other social platforms that have proven virtually impossible to monetize. Can't wait for all the investors to finally wake up and realise that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes and watch Facebook's valuation plummet! At that stage, such organisations will be seeking revenue direct from the ISP's and they'll look for political and legislative backing for such mechanisms. Wait and see!
Compensating Artists
I'd like to know what percentage of those funds will ACTUALLY reach the artists pockets. I'd be willing to bet it will be hardly noticed, which is typical of government managed programs.
welcome to the
music industry, where you, and everyone else is a criminal.
"Don't do the crime!"
mgpalma
Indeed. as a copyright holder myself, i've never once seen any payments on my statements relating to income from iPod taxes, or any other taxes on media. (Media taxes are nothing new btw).
Hasn't Canada had a similar system going for quite a while now too?
ellphone?
What's an "ellphone"? Are they only available in Spain?
re: artists
The artists won't receive any of the money. Unfortunately, the amount of money spent by the industries to collect and account for the money will barely be covered by the amount received. Thus, after expenses, there is little money to spread around.
Oh, and they'll also need some 20-30 years to determine the best way to spread the wealth amongst the artists, as you can't expect each artist to receive the same amount. They need to research who's stealing what, at what percentage, and for how long. So there's lot's of studying going on as well.
But, in the end, justice has been served!