While the worldwide music industry realizes that times have changed, and adapts to new customer habits to consume music, the Government in Spain decided to tax electronic devices, as well as recordable DVD/CDs.
The rational is that all these devices (iPods, Cameras, Copiers, etc) can be used for illegal purposes, and therefore whether you use them for you family pictures, or for pirated music, you are charged with a tax that goes to the artists association SGAE.
Inconceivably, the law in Spain anticipates that all Spaniards are pirates and therefore they have to pay tax to the artists.
With this set-up , where all the consumers are legitimized to piracy by paying the tax, how do they expect people to buy legal songs?
Elsewhere, the industry looks for ways to monetize music, rather that asking government for subsidies. E.g. see how active the mobile music arena is becoming thru Apple.
In Spain, the music industry prefers to lobby the government and get the money, showing total disrespect to their customer. Artists claim the tax ”protects the culture”, but it only protects the Staus Quo of a few untalented artists.
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Canon digital con Z de ZGAE.
The Spanish Government has sponsored a law that charges an extra tax on iPods/mp3 players, printers and mobile phones as well as recordable DVD/CD and others. The charges collected will be used to subsidize SGAE, an organization of mediocre authors and artists that would not survive without this unfair tax.