In the Netherlands, as in many countries, there is a levy on recordable media. This levy is intended to cover the losses from artists due to home copying. This does not mean illegal copying but copies made for personal backups. The levy in the Netherlands is collected by an organisation called BUMA-STEMRA and
according to the Dutch Computer Magazine 'PC-Active' they have made a big mess
of it. According to the magazine the organisation does not collect any levy on
nearly 35% of sold CD and DVD recordables because these are sold outside
official channels. The organisation would also work very inefficient. The
magazine states that not only 40% of the money doesn't reach the people who have
the right to receive it, the organisation also uses marketing data based on
nothing.
PC-Active also critic's the levy on MP3 players and DVD Recorders with Hard discs that are likely to be introduced to the Netherlands. Also the lack of expertise at the government level and the parliament is criticized. The article was written when the magazine was researching for an article about CD and DVD shops outside the Netherlands in countries where the government has not introduced a levy (Such as Luxembourgh). The magazine was not able to get information that should be publicly available and was intrigued by the secrecy.
What do you think, does a levy make sence, even if most of it goes to the artists? If your countries collects levies, what do you think about the organisations in your country, is this a Dutch problem or do you see it in your own country as well?
Source: PC-Active
