The Copyright Board of Canada (Board) has recently activated, reactivated and / or expedited its processes for numerous files targeting SODRAC members.
The procedure for the 2014-2018 online music rate will begin in February 2018 for a hearing on March 26, 2019. SODRAC, who within CMRRA-SODRAC inc. (CSI) is the entity that is currently licensing online music services, appealed the Board’s previous ruling for the 2011-2013 online music tariff. The Board nevertheless started the process despite the fact that this appeal has not yet been heard; we hope that this will not have a negative impact on the current deadlines. We have already negotiated with the vast majority of online music services and are already collecting from Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Deezer and Amazon according to agreements that cover the period 2014-2018. Our negotiations with other services are ongoing.
SODRAC’s procedure for its audiovisual rates, namely the 2014-2018 online video tariff (Tariff # 6) and the 2015-2018 online film tariff (tariff # 7), was also launched by the Board. The process will begin on December 20, and the hearing is scheduled for January 22, 2019.
The hearing for the SRC/CBC-SODRAC arbitration took place last September and we now expect the Board to decide on the fate of your royalties payable by the Crown Corporation, that we hope to receive by the end of 2019.
Also, SODRAC filed a commercial television tariff (tariff # 8) retroactive to January 1st, 2017. It is not part of the process recently triggered by the Board and will therefore proceed later.
SODRAC always favors free negotiation and prefers to negotiate with users in order to arrive at a faster and more fruitful result, such as what we did for the 2012-2018 Commercial Radio Tariff, which we settled through a negotiated agreement. We are currently awaiting the approval of this agreement by the Board.
Finally, SODRAC is still awaiting approval by the Board for its agreement on the 2009-2016 videocopy tariff.