The rights to certain Quebec songs are more difficult to acquire than those for old American or French hits. Faced with endless delays and exorbitant prices, Quebec creators sometimes prefer to fall back on foreign titles, often in English, for the musical score of their series or their films.
“It would be unfair to point the finger at directors when there aren’t enough Quebec songs in the movies or on TV. All the people I work with, there is nothing they love more than to promote Quebec artists when the context lends itself to it, ”assures music supervisor Joss Dumas, who negotiated the copyrights. soundtracks of several Quebec productions from the past 15 years.
It was he, among others, who renegotiated the royalties for CRAZY, by Jean-Marc Vallée, when the licenses expired, ten years after the release of the film. From 2015 to 2017, this success of Quebec cinema could not be broadcast on television or on online platforms for copyright issues. Shine on You Crazy Diamondby Pink Floyd, was complicated to renegotiate, but All torn apart, by Robert Charlebois, was no picnic either. Joss Dumas took two years to reach an agreement with the rights holders.
“It was more complicated for Robert Charlebois than for David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, who are also part of the soundtrack. When you look at it with hindsight, you can see that it is not logical, that there is something wrong, ”says Joss Dumas, specifying that it was in no way the fault of Robert Charlebois , who was on the contrary flattered to release his rights for a masterpiece like CRAZY
Plan B required
The case of CRAZY is not unique. Last week, on the airwaves of QUB radio, Xavier Dolan protested against the fact that it is so difficult to integrate songs from here in Quebec works. For the series The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up, he says he had to give up a dozen Quebec songs. Without naming it, the filmmaker pointed to one record company in particular, “which never responds to its osti phone”, “which costs a fortune”, “which prevents the Quebec public from hearing the songs of our artists on television or in the cinema”, in addition to depriving the artists of royalties.
In interview at To have to, the one who was the musical supervisor on Xavier Dolan’s last project, Lucie Bourgouin, tempered the director’s remarks. “People must not think that it is difficult to negotiate for Quebec songs. It’s just not true. Most of the time, the negotiations go very well, ”she says, adding that, as a general rule, Quebec songs remain much cheaper than foreign songs.
While many Quebec hits are within everyone’s reach, the fact remains that part of our musical heritage seems to have escaped our creators. The director Guillaume Lambert tried as best he could to obtain the rights to the play Look for by Ginette Reno for the trailer for her latest film,niagara. But after several months of waiting, he resigned himself to taking Claude François’ version of the same song. On the other hand, in no time at all, he was able to get his hands on the planetary tube The Bomba by KingAfrica.
“It varies a lot from song to song. Sometimes it’s very complicated, other times it’s very simple. It’s very insecure for the creators, because, unfortunately, time crumbles in post-production and choices have to be made,” laments Guillaume Lambert.
Not the artists fault
Few Quebec artists prevent local creators from using their songs. On the contrary, most see it as an opportunity to promote their work by earning new income. It is rather at the stage of the music publishers that the process most often gets tangled up.
In the music industry, publishers are those who have the task of promoting the catalog of their artists by offering their old titles, for example, for commercials or films. In Quebec, one of the main publishers is called Unidisc, which has acquired an impressive catalog composed essentially of old nostalgic hits highly prized by directors, notably those of Martine St-Clair, Mitsou, France D’Amour, Marie Carmen or even BBs.
I had to call my editor to say: “Come on!“It’s a film that speaks to me a lot, I had to be in it, it was important to me. But for the publisher, it was not important. Again, because its fee schedule is not adapted to Quebec.
However, Unidisc, although a Montreal company, has the reputation of giving a hard time to the audiovisual sector in Quebec. According to what several sources told the To have toprices at Unidisc would be much higher than at other publishers and negotiations would usually drag on there.
“They manage the rights in Canada of several international artists. Yes, it’s a Montreal company, but it’s become a monster with its catalog. They have a price list based on the international market, which is not adapted to the Quebec scale”, observes the singer-songwriter Stefie Shock, who wishes to point out, however, that he maintains good relations with his editor.
Half of the rights to his early albums now belong to Unidisc, under his contract at the time. This means that, for one of its pieces to be included in a film or a series, the company must give its agreement. But sometimes, the negotiations stretch…
Director Francis Leclerc wanted to use the song Hi Chantal for his new film, The plunger, which hits theaters in February. Stefie Shock, who adored the book and admires the work of Francis Leclerc, was happy to sign over the rights, but talks were stalled for a long time at Unidisc.
“I had to call my editor and say, ‘Come on!“It’s a film that speaks to me a lot, I had to be in it, it was important to me. But for the publisher, it was not important. There again, because its price list is not adapted to Quebec”, says Stefie Shock, who finally succeeded in convincing Unidisc to sell his piece. Hi Chantal.
Unidisc was unable to answer our questions on Tuesday.