Canadian Songsmiths Enjoying
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l BY LARRY LeBLANC Canadian Songsmiths Enjoying Increased Control Of Their Copyrights licensing TORONTO- Backed by his country's copyright law, Canadian gaining power including the right to withhold licensing. Abramovitch further notes that the lack of compulsory Any member who singer /songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is not about to let anyone in The latter is most effective when labels seek a reduction to a three - can be a weapon within band dynamics. band Canada cover his 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." quarter- controlled composition rate. "They usually pay the full rate owns even a portion of a song's publishing can withhold the right 'The song is so personal to Gordon that he doesn't want it to be because the song is likely already recorded," Harvey says. for the band to rerecord the song. "In the United States, that can't recorded by others," Lightfoot's Toronto -based manager Barry Har- Toronto music lawyer Susan Abramovitch of Goodman Can adds, happen," she says. "[Publishing] co- owners could license the song vey says. "So we refuse to license it." Harvey oversees the artist's "A label I represented went to get a mechanical license at full in- if the others received a pro -rated share." catalog through Lightfoot's own Moose Music and Early Morning dustry rate, and the artist -who was also the songwriter-essen- Lightfoot is one of a handful of Canadians- including 1960s Music companies. tially refused. He asked for four times the industry rate." folk icon Ian Tyson -who originally signed with U.S. -based copy- In 1989, Canada's music publishers successfully lobbied for the publishers and is now taking advantage of the Canadian abolishment of compulsory licensing and the right to negotiate di- right law's change. Both artists have regained their catalogs rectly with record labels for mechanical licenses. As a result, there after using termination rights granted by the U.S. Copyright Act 1998, rights is only one remaining statutory license that provides for the is- Act of 1976 and the Copyright Term Extension of suance of a license by the Canadian Copyright Board upon appli- unavailable in Canada. cation, where the copyright owner cannot be located. Tyson secured termination rights for his 1960s catalog from Until 1989, the Canadian Copyright Act's provisions- unchanged Warner /Chappell in the mid- 1990s. He now has a worldwide ad- which in- since 1924 -forced Canadian publishers to accept a mechanical ministration deal with Warner /Chappell for his catalog, Winds" Soon." rate of 2 cents Canadian (1.75 cents) per song. The act also provided cludes the classics "Four Strong and "Someday for compulsory licensing of mechanical rights after first use. Tyson admits there are downsides to taking control. "I now see (The United States is the last country to still have a compulsory more paper," he grouses. "You can't read everything, [but] I always mechanical license, which has come under scrutiny by congres- check if there are checks in the envelopes." sional oversight committees during the last two years.) In the new film "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," Young prefaces a going Since 1989, Canadian industry practice has generally adhered to performance of "Four Strong Winds" with a reminiscence of in 1963 as a teen a standard rate negotiated between the Canadian Musical Repro- out to Falcon Lake (east of Winnipeg, Manitoba) duction Rights Agency-which represents most publishers in and plugging nickel after nickel into a jukebox to listen to the Ian Canada -and labels body the Canadian Recording Industry Assn. & Sylvia version over and over again. He talks about that song being GORDON (7.4 his favorite. The current rate for a mechanical license is 8.5 cents Canadian LIGHTFOOT told that Young performed "Four Strong Winds" on the cents) per track. refuses to license When However, Toronto music lawyer Paul Sanderson of Sanderson his song 'The Wreck of televised Live 8 concert last summer, Tyson, who lives on a farm in ni Taylor notes, "There are people who charge [labels] 9 or 10 cents." the Edmund Fitzgerald' rural Alberta, chuckles and says, "Well, I haven't seen anything for other artists to record. He adds that the lack ofa compulsory license gives publishers bar- these vet. I expect I will." CARNIVq( VIDEO GAMES! GAKS1. THE 7TH ANNUAL Now TJ MARTELL FOUNDATION FOOD! HONOREES Sunday, March 5, 2006 Roseland Ballroom Steve Greenberg 239 West 52nd Street, NYC For tickets call 212.833.5444 & Jennifer Sylvor 1PM - 4PM or visit www.tjmartelioundation.org And their children Amelia & Abigail Greenberg OP7Y(f,NSNAG Traurig c. ss ENTERTAINMENTo FEBRUARY 25, 2006 www.billboard.biz 25 www.americanradiohistory.com.