Canada’s National Post (www.canada.com) has issued the following report from Peter J. Thompson:

EMI Music's David Munns expects iTunes to launch in Canada since Apple's Steve Jobs is aware "the Canadian consumer is knocking on his door."

Apple Computer Corp.'s iTunes Internet music service is seriously considering entering the Canadian market, according to one of the world's most powerful industry executives.

David Munns, EMI Music vice-chairman and North American chief executive, told the Financial Post he expects Apple will launch a Canadian version of iTunes, the most successful legal digital music service to date, in the near future.

"I saw Steve Jobs [last week] and he is acutely aware the Canadian consumer is knocking on his door," Mr. Munns says. "I'd say it is very much on his radar now."

If Apple sets up shop in Canada, it would become the country's third major online music seller, joining Puretracks.com and Napster, which launched in May.

Mr. Munns, who ran EMI's Canadian operations starting in the late 1970s and helped manage American rock band Bon Jovi at one stage in his career, says digital music sales will continue to expand rapidly in coming years. EMI has 400 online contracts set up currently, he points out, but that "amounts to a drop in the bucket."

There are big hopes that the legal digital music revolution will continue to help push the music business into a recovery. After several years of declines, sales of music increased in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Mr. Munns, who returned to EMI in 2001 after spending several years in a variety of positions, was appointed to his current role by EMI record division chief Alain Levy in 2002. His appointment came at the same time EMI was dealing with CD sales declines by cutting 1,800 jobs. The company cut another 1,500 positions earlier this year.

To curtail music piracy, EMI, along with the other major labels, have launched a legal offensive against file sharers in the U.S. and Europe.

In Canada, an attempt to launch civil action against alleged file sharers faltered amid issues involving the country's copyright laws.

Mr. Munns says the best way for Canada to deal with copyright issues is to ratify the long-delayed World Intellectual Property Organization treaty: "It is time for the government to step up on this."

To help increase sales, EMI, the fifth-largest major music label, trailing the likes of Sony, and Universal Music, is looking to capitalize on a variety of technological innovations, Mr. Munns says.

The music business has been widely criticized for falling behind the times while music services like Napster and then Kazaa sent CD sales into a spiral by offering free music downloads.

But the industry is now carefully examining all technological possibilities, Mr. Munns says, from ringtones on cellphones to a variety of arrangements with video game manufacturers.

The music business is no longer resting on its laurels, he says.

"We could be accused a few years ago of not doing enough to change with the environment," he says. "But you could not accuse us of that now. We're going flat out."

That doesn't mean all technological innovations EMI has made have been without issue. For example, EMI was among the first labels to offer copy control protection software on its CDs as a means of deterring users from placing its music on free file sharing services. The software, created by California-based Macrovision Corp., has created numerous problems for EMI's Canadian customers who found the discs would often simply not play in standard stereo equipment. The software has yet to be used in releases in the United States, a fact for which Mr. Munns makes no apologies.

"Since EMI is the fifth-largest label, it is difficult to trailblaze in America," he says. But retailers in Europe and Canada have come to support the copy protection software, Mr. Munns says.

"We've learned a lot about how consumers react to it in other countries and the retailers have come to really support it," he says. "Over a period of time, as digital rights management and usage rules become clearer, the consumer will get used to it."