The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 organization dedicated exclusively to Canadian composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

s, lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...

s and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

s. Their mission is to develop and protect the creative and business environments for songwriters in Canada and around the world.

Proposal to Monetize File Sharing

The SAC made news in late 2007 when they released a proposal to monetize file sharing

File sharing

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...

 in Canada by setting up a collection agency to distribution royalties to artists and songwriters (much like what is done on the radio). Similar ideas had been proposed in the past by the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...

 and William Fischer

William Fischer

William Fischer may refer to:*Bill Fischer , American football player*William Fischer *Bill Fischer -See also:*Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher , Soviet intelligence officer...

, but the SAC was one of the largest organizations and one of the first artist organizations to get serious about the idea. The Canadian Record Industry Association called it a "pipe dream

Pipe dream

- Music :* Pipe Dreams , 2009* Pipedream , the first solo album from Lindisfarne front man Alan Hull* Pipe Dreams , 1995* "Pipe Dream", a song by Project 86 from the album Project 86...

" at first, but in 2008 the record industry shifted its strategy to push for largely the same idea that the SAC had proposed. The Canadian Music Creators Coalition

Canadian Music Creators Coalition

Canadian Music Creators Coalition is a group of Canadian music artists opposed to introducing legislation similar to the United States' DMCA into Canadian intellectual property law. The group was officially formed April 26, 2006...

, on the other hand, called the proposal "forward thinking." The proposal received much criticism from technology experts as a "music tax," since it calls for a mandatory license for everyone connected to the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, rather than an opt-in voluntary system.