FEBRUARY & MARCH 2008

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Michel Gendron, head of Vega Musique in Montreal passed away March 1, 2008 of a heart attack. He was 49. Vega Musique (Sylvain Cossette & Andrée Watters) is a co-venture of Gendron, Canadian producer Bob Ezrin abd Universal Music Canada. Gendron previously was VP and co-owner of Les Disques Tox (les B.B., Mitsou, Marie-Chantal Toupin) now headed by his brother Pierre.

COPYRIGHT REFORM STUCK ON HOLD -- After continual missteps by Canada's federal government, the Industry Department's proposed copyright bill, which has been on the House Order Paper since Dec. 7, is now on indefinite hold.A bill has been ready for tabling, but it was reportedly put on indefinite hold at a Priorities and Planning Cabinet Committee meeting just prior to the Feb. 18 sitting break of the House of Commons. No doubt Industry Minister Jim Prentice was nervous about tabling the legislation in advance of a potential spring election. Now the bill is not likely to be introduced by the minority Conservatives so long as a confidence vote in Parliament could force an election. There's little question that a noisy lobby campaign for a "balanced approach" to copyright is one of the reasons for the delay.A group called the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, which formed last month, has released a position paper calling for a "balanced approach for a strong Canadian copyright regime." The coalition includes such media heavy-hitters as the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Retail Council of Canada, Yahoo! Canada, Google, Rogers Communications Inc., and Telus, among others.Also causing a stir is blogger Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, who launched a Facebook protest group for "fair copyright" in Canada. The site now has over 40,000 members.Meanwhile, The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) is demanding an amendment to the Copyright Act that would establish a new right, called the Right to Equitable Remunerations for Music File Sharing. It would boost Canadians' internet bills by $5 in exchange for the ability to download as many music files as they choose.

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