Spain has announced that they will implement an anti-piracy tax on all devices used for recording and storage of sound and images. The tax is being called the digital canon.
From Billboard.
The list of taxes was published without warning in the Official State Bulleting (BOE) on June 19. There are a few minor changes to an initial “digital canon” list agreed by the industry and culture ministries and published in January. For example, mobile phones with integrated MP3 music devices will be subject to a €1.10 tax ($1.7) instead of the original €1.50 ($2.35).
The “digital canon” will be in force exactly one year before a scheduled revision. In that period, the tax collected must not be lower than €110.2 million ($171.9 million) or more than €117.8 million ($183.8 million). If it is higher or lower, the culture ministry must make necessary adjustments.
This sort of thing has been talked about elsewhere but, until now, only talked about.
The opposition focuses on the premise that, some people that buy devices don’t steal media and the issue of how the money will be distributed.
Will Spain actually be a bellwether?
Tax time, ain’t nothin’ but a mess
Payin’ Uncle Sam more an’ I’m gettin’ less
Now The po’ stay po’ and the rich stay rich
An’ I’m right here in the middle
ain’t that a…..!Barely gettin’ by, makes me mean
‘Cause the politicians I’m payin’, are livin’ real clean
Step down Mister Politician, and live like I do
I want you to know, the workin’ man bluesfrom “Cash Talkin’ (The Working Man Blues) by Albert Collins
Yeah, I spent most of the day on my taxes. I tried every angle, schedule C, schedule A, doesn’t matter, works out about the same whatever I do. I always over pay the state which offsets what I pay the feds. I like to get it out of the way early.
Albert Collins, he was one of a kind, go listen to him. They called him “The Iceman” because of his crystalline Tele tone. He had a big instrumental hit in the late fifties, “Frosty”. He tuned to an Fminor chord and used a capo. I’ve seen Jimmie Vaughan doing this shtick and sound close to Albert, but nobody else really captures it.
Guys used to work really hard on coming up with their own style rather than playing fast or flashy. Albert Collins, Albert King, B.B. King, none of them play fast but you hear two notes and Boom, you know who it is. Those three guys don’t even hardly play chords,mostly single notes that are as unique as a human voice.
I met Peter Case (great singer/songwriter/guitarist) one night a couple of years ago and he told me a story about meeting Willie Dixon. I’m going to paraphrase but, Willie told him, “You gotta have your own style and you’re style should be named after your name, like Bo Diddley, and your best song should be named after your style, like Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley in the Bo Diddley style”.
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
Albert Collins
Recent Comments