An essential bill for the future of our music.
For many years, music streaming platforms have occupied an increasingly important place in our lives. The prospect of unlimited access to millions of songs from our cell phones was promising. All the music in the world, now at the fingertips of consumers… The world was finally going to open up to local artists!
We quickly realized that all was not so rosy. Traditional radio stations now have to compete with new players and local artists are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their audience. At the dawn of the digital age, when sales of physical albums were still substantial, Quebec artists accounted for half of the sales year after year.
The most recent data show us that the share of listens to local artists singing in French is only a measly 5%1.
This is why the music industry has been demanding, for some twenty years now, that platforms also be subject to the Broadcasting Act, so that the latter are subject, in the same way as radio stations, to obligations of development and contributions to the development of content. This will result in a better showcase for our music and financial participation in the various funds that support musical creation.
Passions and false information
It is in particular to correct these inequities that Bill C-11 is currently being studied in Ottawa. The least we can say is that the bill arouses passions, particularly in the rest of the country. A lot of false information has been spread, its opponents going so far as to see it as a brake on freedom of expression. Obviously, this is not the case, our music and the artistic sector as a whole would be the first victims of draconian legislation.
At the center of the controversy is the idea that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) controls what individuals post online. This is absolutely not the purpose of the bill and amateur videos are in no way affected by this law.
Social networks had been excluded from the outset from C-11, with the exception of certain programs which particularly target professional music. In this sense, clear criteria to guide the CRTC have already been provided for in section 4 of the bill.
To appease critics, the Senate committee responsible for studying the bill adopted an amendment aimed at tightening these criteria even more, and thus restricting the scope of the law.
This manoeuvre, at the very end of the process, inadvertently caused a major breach, which has the effect of excluding the consumption of music videos from the scope of the law.
Remember that YouTube is the main online music service in Canada and American music videos are predominant there. According to an ADISQ study published in November2, we see that nearly 70% of Quebecers listen to music on YouTube. The platform is also the first place for musical discoveries for 13 to 17 year olds.
It is therefore essential that the House of Commons reject the Senate amendment to this article. After all the work done, it is unthinkable that the elephant gives birth to a simple mouse.
* Co-signers: Sophie Prégent, Union des artistes (UDA); Annie Morin, ARTISTI; Jérôme Payette, Association of Music Publishing Professionals (APEM); Luc Fortin, Guild of Musicians of Quebec (GMMQ); David Bussières, Association of Music Craftsmen (RAM); Andrea Kokonis, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN); Thomas Jolicœur, Society for the collective management of the rights of producers of phonograms and videograms of Quebec (SOPROQ); Alexandre Alonso, Professional Society of Authors and Composers of Quebec (SPACQ)
1. Luminate data, ADISQ compilation