By David Farrell
Liberals, Conservatives promise to regulate digital giants…if they win
On Sunday, the Liberals proposed a new 3% tax on “multinational tech giants” that they expect to bring in more than a half a billion dollars in 2020-21. The tax would apply to companies apply to companies with more than $1 billion in global revenues and Canadian revenues of at least $40 million a year., which make money by selling online advertising or otherwise profiting from Canadian user data. The Conservatives are singing from the same hymn book, but how a Conservative government would go about ensuring that happens, however, remains to be seen. – Alex Boutilier, The Star
The family that owns New Brunswick: A dynasty in decline
For almost a century, the Irving family has run New Brunswick like a personal fiefdom. Their business interests include Irving oil, forestry companies, retail, newspapers, transport firms and some marine shipping and shipbuilding companies. So how does a single family come to so thoroughly dominate an entire province? And what happens when that family starts to fracture and split apart at the seams?
A CanadaLand podcast discusses the extraordinary power and wealth of companies owned and controlled by the descendants of Canadian industrialist K.C. Irving whose empire was created over 50 years, ending with his retirement to Bermuda in the 1970s.
The no-man’s land of copyrighted music in podcasts
“Since its debut on January 25, 2017, my Ongoing History of New Music podcasts has been downloaded 5.9 million times by people in virtually every country on the planet, save French Guyana, Western Sahara, Niger, Chad, South Sudan, Eritrea, the Republic of the Congo, and North Korea. That’s 188 out of 195 countries.
Not bad for a documentary program that goes deep into the music, despite not being able to play the songs – copyrighted commercial music – about which I talk. It’s a music documentary without the music because, well, them’s the rules.”
Alan Cross beats the drum for rights organizations to get with the times and license music in podcasts.
“There’s no doubt that a lot of money is being left on the table, so why can’t someone just come up with a blanket license for music in podcasts?” Cross asks in a SOCAN blog. It’s a question awaiting its answer.
From fired radio host to successful podcaster
We’re seeing more and more of this from former on-air hosts who’ve been fired from their jobs. Especially from hosts who’ve been in the business for years and have accumulated a loyal following. While PD’s and managers fire them for not delivering a few ratings points, some hosts are going out on their own, from the comfort of their own homes, taking their listeners with them, and pulling in podcasting ad dollars. – Radio Ink
