The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) is fighting a new royalty fee for recorded dance music.

The fee could potentially cost restaurants, bars and nightclubs an estimated $6,000 a year.

Under the proposal set forth by the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada (NRCC), some operators will see their annual fees for playing recorded dance music skyrocket to $30,000.

CRFA has started a petition against the new royalty fee on their website (www.crfa.ca).

“This proposal is punitive and illogical,” says David Harris, senior executive vice-president of CRFA.

“If approved, this proposal will force many hospitality establishments to reconsider the use of dance music and possibly drop dance music altogether. How does that help the music industry?”

NRCC’s proposal is an additional fee for operators that would be levied on top of the royalty for dance music already charged by the Society of Composers Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).

Under NRCC’s proposal, the new fee would be 10 times higher than the royalty fee charged by SOCAN, despite the fact that SOCAN’s catalogue of music is 50 per cent bigger. NRCC collects music royalties for performers and engineers.

“We look forward to fighting this proposal before the Copyright
Board of Canada,” says Harris.

“Canada’s hospitality industry not only plays music, but also introduces new music to customers – a valuable service that helps to promote sales. It’s time the music industry stopped acting like a monopoly and started treating hospitality operators like partners.”