Supreme Court nixes double royalties for streaming, downloading music online

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says songwriters are entitled to just one royalty — not two — when their music is made available for streaming or downloaded through an online service.

The top court’s decision today clarifies the meaning of a Canadian copyright law provision dealing with communication of a work to the public online.

The Copyright Board of Canada had ruled the legislative provision meant that making a song or other artistic work available was a separately protected activity for which there must be compensation.

The board said this entitled rights holders to two payments when a work is distributed online: one when it is made available on a platform such as iTunes or Spotify, and a second when it is actually streamed or downloaded by a listener.