More than 150 artists and music artisans are calling on the winners who will take the stage Sunday evening at the ADISQ gala to show solidarity in their speech so that they carry the voice of self-producers. These creators finance and manage their musical recordings themselves outside the record company network.
In a letter addressed to the nominees, the signatories deplore that ADISQ members who have chosen self-production are kept away from the board of directors and deprived of a vote at general meetings.
“With the gala, we celebrate the world of production, but we suppress self-production even though it has largely become the majority,” explains in an interview with The Press Guillaume Déziel, former agent of Misteur Valaire and one of the instigators of the missive. “There is an ambient unease; there is a reality that has changed, but the system by which we govern does not take this reality into account. That is problematic. »
The current situation “makes it possible to maintain an industrial model channeling a large part of our public money first towards its producer members and not towards artists who are starving”, warn in particular the signatory artists Daniel Boucher, Pierre-Philippe Côté (Pilou ), Safia Nolin, Alexe Gaudreault, Sébastien Fréchette (Biz), Stefie Shock, Catherine Major, Joe Bocan, Steve Hill, Luis Clavis, Chloé Sainte-Marie and Philémon Cimon.
The president of the Union of Artists, Tania Kontoyanni, her vice-president, Pierre-Luc Brillant, and the former Minister of Culture and Communications Christine St-Pierre also added their voices.
In Quebec, more than 80% of producers are artist-entrepreneurs.
The open letter, published under the title “The Red Carpet of Enslavement” in The duty Saturday and consulted by The Press last Thursday, is intended as a call to action from the recipients who will grab a golden statuette on Sunday evening. “If you are lucky enough to find yourself in front of a nostalgic speaking microphone, do not hesitate to claim in front of a million viewers that artist-entrepreneurs who are members of ADISQ should also have the right to vote and to govern to take part in the destiny of our music industry. »
Due to ADISQ’s “control over a large part of state subsidies”, artists are often forced to sign with a “recognized” producer and give up “precious rights”, the signatories further deplore. .
The missive highlights that two ADISQ administrators — who receive subsidies — are also members of the SODEC board of directors — which awards these same subsidies. No self-producing music artist sits there. Decision-makers “thus ensure that producers remain essential intermediaries between you and the public; that, without them, you cannot have access to subsidies intended to accelerate your career,” we can read.
“Being able to choose”
In interview with The Press, Dominique Lebeau, who self-produced his solo albums under the name domlebo since his departure from Cowboys Fringants in 2007, regretfully emphasizes that David Bussières, spokesperson for the Regroupement des artisans de la musique, is the only artist — and self-producer — among the sixteen members of the Music and Entertainment Commission of the Cultural Enterprise Development Corporation (SODEC). The commissions must be consulted for any proposed financial assistance programs in their field.
We have to tell the artists: “Be careful, you are playing a game plate for the people who work in the industry. Maybe we should be better represented and have more space if we want to collaborate with these people…”
Dominique Lebeau
SODEC recently reserved an aid envelope of one million per year for self-producers, but they must be “incorporated” to benefit from it, which disqualifies around four out of five artist-entrepreneurs.
Guillaume Déziel insists: there is no question of waging war on SODEC or ADISQ, “The objective is that the two worlds, production and self-production, can coexist. »
“It’s as if we were organizing a table on the labor market with employers and employees, but excluding self-employed workers,” says the author and rapper Biz, who put his name at the bottom of the letter.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Sébastien Fréchette, aka Biz
Sébastien Fréchette, his real name, recalls that Loco Locass’ first album, Manifesto, as well as all of his shows were self-produced. “More and more, artists are realizing that they make the cake, but they don’t have the biggest tip. »
Biz assures that Loco Locass was well served by Audiogram, but he specifies that “not all record companies have this ethics and this quality”, hence the desire to show solidarity towards self-producers . “And at some point, you ask yourself: do you want to be a sailor on a liner or captain of your boat? »
The democratization of the means of production has led to a takeover of power, he observes: “I have the right to exist, I have the right to be recognized, I have the right to have subsidies. »
Singer-songwriter Joe Bocan, joined by The Press, explains having experienced all the pitfalls of self-production and co-production, particularly when she was preparing an album for children. “They always found a good reason not to subsidize it. I had to do everything myself with zero pennies. »
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Joe Bocan
According to her, the muzzling of self-producers in the governance of ADISQ is a symptom of much broader structural inequities in the music industry. “There is a huge amount of work to be done, the whole mechanism needs to be changed,” she said.