Love is merciless, sings Jean Leloup.
It may be true. But what we also see now is that the digital revolution is merciless for local artists who sing in French like him.
And these artists urgently need help.
The most recent proof of the scale of the crisis came to us from The duty this week.
One of their journalists consulted the list of the 100 most listened to songs in Quebec on various platforms. He noticed that there are no French-language songs there.
NONE.
The most listened to Quebec titles are those of the duo formed by FouKi and Jay Scott (Copilot) and the Fringant Cowboys (America is crying). They meet respectively in 113e and 157e squares.
We are not talking here about a list of songs listened to across the country. The ranking only represents listening in Quebec. It’s atrocious.
And it is even more so when we see that this is no exception. It is the rule.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Les Cowboys Fringants, at the 2022 ADISQ Gala. In 157e place, their room America is crying is the second most listened to Quebec song on digital platforms.
Our journalist Alexandre Vigneault took part in a similar exercise last fall. There was, at the time, only one song in French in the top 100 of the most listened to songs in Montreal on Spotify – it was also the song Copilot.
The verdict is damning: the survival of the Quebec music industry is threatened.
Anyone who has the fate of the French language and Quebec culture at heart has very good reason to worry. It’s very bad news for both of them if the next generation of music in Quebec is nipped in the bud by the casualness of the digital giants towards them.
In a brief written last April on the occasion of the CAQ’s consultation on the future of the French language, the Quebec Association of the Record, Entertainment and Video Industry (ADISQ) eloquently underlines that who is at stake.
“If our musical heritage has been important in the construction of our identity and the defense of our language, its renewal is just as important. Even today, our artists, by putting into song stories that resemble us, in our language, occupy a fundamental social role. Young artists like Roxane Bruneau, Hubert Lenoir, FouKi, Émile Bilodeau or Ariane Roy sing in turn, with talent, stories that tell us and bring us together. »
Quebec artists still grab a significant share of physical album sales. The problem is that they buy less and less.
Six out of ten Quebecers now use an online listening service. In 2022, they listened to more than 87% English music and only 5% music from French-speaking artists in Quebec. A real shipwreck.
After spending too many years watching the boat sink without reacting, Ottawa and Quebec have understood that asking our musicians to dry their tears is not enough.
The Liberal government was finally able to get Bill C-11 passed in Ottawa – it received Royal Assent in April. There Online Streaming Act should make it possible both to force platforms to promote local artists and to oblige them to contribute financially to Canadian content.
CRTC consultations on this subject have just begun and should lead, at the end of 2024, to the implementation of the regulation which will regulate the practices of the major digital players by attempting to correct the injustices for which their algorithms are responsible. .
The devil is in the details, of course, but there is cause for optimism. Let us dream better… without however thinking that the problem will be solved overnight.
In Quebec, we have already hinted that we will have to go further to protect our music industry. The Minister of Culture of Quebec, Mathieu Lacombe, in the wake of the adoption of Bill C-11, spoke of a “significant first step”. But he also promised to “do more”.
Since then, it has, among other things, set up a group of experts with the aim of identifying ways to make more room for Quebec content on the platforms of the big digital mammoths.
Here again, let’s wait to know the results of this initiative before opening the champagne.
Do not sulk all the same our pleasure. Lifebuoys will soon be launched, both by Ottawa and in Quebec, to a cultural community that badly needs them.
Let’s invite our elected officials to offer enough to prevent the evaporation of our music industry.
But let’s not believe either that it’s up to the politicians to fix everything. Let us collectively strive to thumb our noses at the digital giants who bury our artists deep within their platforms. Let’s get the music from here out of oblivion!