Stories from Tri-City News headlines of decades past will be a recurring feature as the publication marks its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Remember CDs?
In 1994, Patty Hornvedt’s Port Coquitlam video store was doing a brisk side business renting music CDs at $2 a pop.
But a revision to the Copyright Act that came into effect at the beginning of that year as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) meant she’d have to get the permission of the copyright holders — usually the musicians — to be able to continue to rent their music.
Hornvedt said that would likely mean she’d have to pay them a royalty for every rental, boosting the cost to her customers to at least $2.50 a rental.
But, she told the Tri-City News, she hadn’t received any formal notification or further information about the new requirement.
"I asked my distributor what she had heard and she has heard absolutely nothing," Hornvedt said, adding customers, retailers and the music industry will suffer if renting CDs becomes illegal by forcing customers to purchase them instead even if they only like a song or two.
Meanwhile, a shop in Bremerton, Wash., had found a workaround by selling its customers second-hand CDs for $9.99 plus tax then refunding them $8.99 if they returned them a day later.
If only they knew what was coming.
The Tri-City News has covered civic affairs, local crime, festivals, events, personalities, sports and arts in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1983. Bound back issues of the paper are available at the Coquitlam Archives, while digital versions of several past years can be found at issuu.com.
