According to Asahi Shimbun report, the Japanese government is set to propose a plan that will charge “copyright royalties on sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, as well as on digital hard disk recorders”.
The agency in charge, the Agency of Cultural Affairs has not made a decision on the amount of the fee but it expected to be low, about 100 yen (95 cents USD) per sale, for an annual total about 1 billion yen (about $9.5 million USD). All fees collected would then go to songwriters, artists, and the record labels. Older devices such as DVD burners and minidisk players are already subject to a similar copyright fee.
This is not the first time the Japanese recording industry has tried to get this “iPod Tax” passed. In 2005 the proposal was almost imposed but a government committee failed to reach consensus on the issue and it fell apart.
Result for: digital music player
According to comments made by Sony Chairman Howard Stringer during the D6 Technology and Media Conference, the PlayStation 3 was on life support for awhile but that the console is moving its way towards profitability and a long lifespan.
When asked to comment about the company’s recent failures for digital music player and interactive television ventures, Stringer noted that Sony was only now running 5 percent profit margins.
“If we have any more success, we’ll be bankrupt,” he added.
When asked specifically about the PS3 and its rocky start he said the division was doing well with production costs dropping and game titles selling very well. He also added that upcoming games would use “the full capacity” of the console and will be “spectacular.”
The Chairman then went on to talk about the how the console was more than just a gaming platform but also a PSP hub and more notably, an HD media capable system. He noted that the PS3 was a main factor in Sony’s Blu-ray win over HD DVD. He also added that Blu-ray did not succeed because Sony paid off movie studios for exclusive support.
“We were not in the check-writing competition,” he said.
More interestingly, Stringer says he believes Blu-ray will last for 10 years or more despite the rise in digital distribution as their is a “long lead time before downloads can reach the quality of Blu-ray.”
“Had I lost that war, the headline would have been, not that HD-DVD won, but that [Blu-ray] was Betamax 2,” Stringer finished. “That would have been on my tombstone.”
