The CRTC has agreed to study the request filed by the Association of Musical Publishing Professionals (APEM), which urges the organization to immediately collect precise data on music listening from broadcasting services online. This information would put an end to “informational inequity”, argues the APEM, and would make it possible to better regulate the obligation to promote Canadian content included in the new Broadcasting Act.
What you need to know
- A modified version of the Broadcasting Act entered into force in April 2023;
- It now imposes an obligation on online streaming services (Spotify, Netflix, etc.) to promote Canadian content;
- The terms of this development remain to be determined and will be the subject of consultations in spring 2025.
One of the great challenges facing Quebec and Canadian artists since the advent of streaming platforms is to get noticed among the millions of titles available. A layout of the news Broadcasting Act requires online broadcasting services to promote Canadian cultural content, without imposing a specific way of doing things. The “how” will be one of the questions that will be addressed during public hearings in spring 2025.
The APEM believes that to achieve this objective of promoting local cultural content, we must first know where we are starting from. The various stakeholders in the music sector have fragmentary and sometimes anecdotal information. Only streaming services have aggregate data on Canadians’ online music listening. It is this information that she urges the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to collect now, which would put an end to “informational inequity”.
We want an update on the situation.
Jérôme Payette, general director of APEM
The data held by online music services would, according to Jérôme Payette, make it possible to know what is recommended to Canadians and in what proportions, or even to know if French-speaking music is offered to users.
“We think it takes data to know where we are,” he continues. After that, in the spring of 2025, the CRTC will be able to make a much more informed decision if there is enough data on what is highlighted and recommended, and then potentially take measures to ensure that our music reaches people and is discovered. »
Promote the accessibility of local music
Jérôme Payette of course believes that by having information in hand, the music community will be in a better position to discuss the means to be implemented to promote access to and discovery of local music. “We think everyone would benefit,” he adds.
The platforms have the data, but I’m not sure they look at it from that angle. They don’t understand, I think, the situation we are in.
Jérôme Payette, general director of APEM
The request – made at the end of August to the CRTC – made by APEM on behalf of several other groups such as ADISQ, the Union des artistes, as well as rights management companies is motivated by the urgency of the situation. Jérôme Payette believes that the need for an assessment of the situation will become evident in the eyes of the CRTC and the other parties concerned during the hearings scheduled for 2025. “Rather than waiting until the spring to say that we needs data, we said that in August, he said. There is an urgent need to act. »
Now that the CRTC has received this request and agreed to study it, a decision should be made around the first week of November. “We hope that the CRTC will collect the data no later than the first quarter of 2025,” specifies the director general of APEM.
The data that music publishers and their partners wish to obtain includes charts of the most listened to musical pieces in Canada, in particular the most listened to French-speaking musical pieces, as well as the origin of these listenings. They also want, for example, to know if these listenings were recommended by the platform or chosen by the user.