"Play and Pay" at record stores.

Last month, SOCAN's licensing manager, Gina Pollock, sent a letter to the owners of music stores across the country. Pollock wanted to let them know that the music they play in their stores is, like all other music in this country, licensed to SOCAN by its performers and composers, and that the stores should therefore pay a licensing fee for playing it.

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"If it wasn't for record stores, there'd be no industry at all," said Laurence Marks, owner of Abba-Zappa in Toronto. "Here I am, struggling to make a buck. So they get 50 bucks from my store, who's it going to go to? Some guy on Queen Street with an independent CD out? No. It's going to go to Neil Young." The licence would cost Marks $50 a year for his small, used-CD store.